Cherry Blossoms in Fall
by azukina
Summary: Sakura has been gone for two years on a secret mission. Now she is reunited with Team 7 and she finds them to be awfully eager to get her attention. But her interest in a certain copy ninja is too strong to deny. Lemons
1. Chapter 1: Recovering Sakura

**Title: Cherry Blossoms in Fall**

**Pairing(s):** Sakura/Kakashi; Minor: Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Naruto, Sakura/Sai Eventually minor pairings: Naruto/Hinata

**Rating:** M (Lemons, explicit language, and violence)

**Summary:** Sakura was sent on a secret mission for two years not long after the Sasuke recovery team was formed. Since she's been gone, Sasuke came back on his own and team Kakashi was reformed minus Sakura. With information saying that Sakura is KIA what will happen to team Kakashi?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Naruto characters or any other ideas drawn from the series.

Chapter 1: Recovering Sakura

Team Kakashi stood before the Hokage waiting for her to divvy out their next mission. They were called to her office via ANBU messengers at the break of dawn and now stood in the early morning light that glowed yellow against the walls of the tower.

Naruto yawned comically loud and stretched his arms, heavy bags under his eyes another indication of how tired he was but even in his fatigued state he was fidgety with the kyubi's energy. At 18 he was only a couple inches shorter than Kakashi, the handsome features of the 4th were clearly defining in his face. His blue eyes stared expectantly at Tsunade.

Sasuke at 18 looked much the same as Sasuke at 16, he was a tad taller, also only two inches shorter than Kakashi. He wore his samurai-esque outfit from when he was a missing nin but it had more black to it now. Sasuke was also tired at being woken early in the morning but he didn't show it, he didn't show much on his face period. It was the picture of aloof, since returning to Konoha mysteriously he was trying to gain back the trust of the village and also managing the hate he'd felt for so many years.

He'd returned to Konoha 6 months prior to this early morning meeting, there was a punishment period for a few months but the elders agreed to forgive his crimes because he'd killed one of the village's greatest enemies, Orochimaru. He had not achieved his revenge against Itachi, after realizing the way he was being manipulated by Orochimaru he disposed of him and returned to Konoha feeling that joining the ANBU squad that was hunting Atkatsuki would be the best way to hunt Itachi down.

However, after factoring his punishment period and the limitations of promotions in ninja ranking he was still a genin. He and Naruto planned on taking the chunin exams in the coming December. Tsunade had assigned him C and B ranked missions after seeking approval from the elders because they were such valuable tools for those missions and the fact that they weren't ranked high enough to do those missions was more of a technicality than a true limitation.

Sai stared blankly off into space on Naruto's left, Sasuke on his right and Kakashi on the far right. Kakashi read his Icha Icha Paradise book, a lazy droop to this right eye but no signs of tiredness in his appearance. A fifth man stood off to the side, he looked awfully disheveled, with many injuries which Shizune was tending to on the spot in the office. Tsunade held a leaflet of paper in her hand with bits of blood on it. Through his mask Kakashi could smell that the blood on the paper belonged to the injured chunin to his right.

Ever since signing the contract with his nin dogs Kakashi has had dog-like senses and instincts that have been infinitely useful for him as a ninja. They weren't nearly as strong instincts as in actual dogs or in the Inuzuka clan but they were much stronger than the average ninja.

Tsunade appeared to be at her wits end, one might think it was a hangover but the anxiety that rolled off her in waves was easily sensed by the perceptive members of the group. Naruto was oblivious to the tension but Sasuke and Kakashi were waiting for the bad news to be delivered but were still confident that no matter what the news Team Kakashi could handle the mission given.

"I will be assigning you a recovery mission based on this man's eyewitness accounts." Tsunade finally broke the silence of the room. "Last night he was scouting through Fire Country near the border we share with Light Country and he was engaged by some missing nin from Mist who killed the rest of his team."

Sai cut across in his usual innocently socially inept fashion. "That's an ANBU job." ANBU were in charge of disposing of the dead bodies of their ninja comrades and recovering any scrolls or other ninja arts from the corpses.

Tsunade's eye twitched in irritation but she pressed on. "I would normally assign this to ANBU however you are there to dispose of the bodies of this man's team but you are also there to recover the body of Sakura Haruno."

A chill swept the room, Kakashi's book slipped from his hand and clattered on the floor at the name of his female teammate. Naruto was suddenly wide awake, his face showing disbelief.

"Wha…? That's not a funny joke Baa-chan!" Naruto shouted earnestly at the Hokage. Sasuke and Sai stared in silent shock at the Hokage who was now tearing up a bit.

Tsunade's grip on the bloody report tightened a bit and she snapped her gaze to the injured chunin. "You are sure the kunoichi who saved you was Sakura Haruno?"

He stared dumbfounded at the Hokage for a minute, perhaps a little dizzy from blood loss. "Yeah…pink hair…? Wicked earthquake inducing punch?" He turned to face Team Kakashi who were all staring at him with wide eyed dread. "My team was losing badly to these guys; they must have been at least jounin level. Sakura came out of nowhere and saved me but they were able to take her down with them. I ran back to Konoha as fast as I could…"

"Did you check that she was dead?" asked Sasuke harshly, his face almost snarling at the younger man. When the man nodded fearfully a heavy weight sunk in the guts of the four man team. Tears flowed down the kyubi container's cheeks while Kakashi's right eye was squinted shut, as if he was wishing to not be there anymore. Sai and Sasuke stared blankly down at their feat in deep thought, neither allowing himself to cry.

Kakashi opened his eyes and stared up at the Hokage who was now staring out the window of the tower with a slouched defeated posture. "We have to go retrieve her body…? We have to carry her lifeless form all the way back here??" Kakashi wasn't able to keep the emotion from cracking into his voice; inside he was already berating himself for failing as a shinobi. He failed at not only repressing his emotions but he ultimately failed Sakura in his eyes. 'I should have been there for her. Trained her better even so this would never have happened…It's all my fault again that I've lost another person I loved.'

The Hokage turned and gave Team Kakashi a pitying look. "I thought that you four would like to see she is gone for yourselves since we were going to need to bring her body back anyway."

"Why must it…she…be brought back?" asked Sasuke.

"Sakura's body holds many secrets that are very important to this village; we will need to run some tests on the blood in her body before we give her a proper burial."

"Blood tests…?" Sai ventured, confused like the rest of Team Kakashi.

Tsunade sighed heavily. "Shizune take Takoto to the hospital." Shizune escorted the young man out of the room; he mumbled an apology to the team which made most of the flinch a bit. "What I reveal to you now is top secret information that you are under no circumstances to reveal to anyone outside of this room. Am I understood?" The four men mumbled their consent. "Two years ago the Harunos were proclaimed KIA. In their will they left Sakura a letter revealing that she was adopted."

Kakashi blinked in surprise, he had never had the pleasure of meeting Sakura's parents so had no idea what her family life was like. He vaguely knew her parents were chuunin who had died at the hands of missing nin while they were on a mission. He had been a shoulder to cry on for the young cherry blossom but she had never told him about this letter. A week later she was off on that two year mission.

"The letter also revealed that Sakura's biological parents were refugees from the Flower village who had traveled into Fire to escape the genocide that took place there about two decades ago. I believe the 18th anniversary of that day just passed by a few weeks ago…"

"Genocide?" Naruto blinked in confusion.

"Mass killing of a race." Sasuke supplied.

Naruto blinked in surprise. "Someone was trying to kill Sakura's family??"

"Mist would have liked to have killed Sakura as well but no one knew of her existence. She was the last Secondary." Kakashi's coal eye widened in alarm and his breath caught, the three younger men spared him a curious glance.

"Secondary?" Sai queried.

Tsunade sighed in annoyance. "I guess we don't teach this part of shinobi history because of the shame the village feel for not stopping the genocide, I guess I'll explain from the beginning…"

Centuries ago there were no shinobi and humans had no knowledge on how to control chakra. The first chakra controllers were the Primary's. A Primary is a demon or spirit with 100% chakra control and a great amount of chakra, like the nine-tailed fox. They roamed the lands mostly terrifying the people who lived here.

Then they came upon the Flower village, the people there had reached a unique stage of Enlightenment that many of the Primaries thought was interesting and valuable so they struck a deal with the villagers. In exchange for allowing the Primaries to enter their minds and bodies the Primaries would give them the ability to control chakra 100%. They agreed and thus there were the Secondary's.

They were the first humans to control chakra, 100% chakra control does not require hand signs usually and allows the person to use external chakra from the environment and not just the internal chakra. Only descendents from that village are Secondary's. Tertiary's are us…ninja's who were taught by the Secondary's many years ago how to use chakra through hand signs that the Secondary's developed.

"So why did Mist kill off all the Secondary's?" asked Sai.

"It was around the time that the kyuubi attacked Konoha. Another lesser demon had also attacked Mist on the same day. Mist then reported intelligence that it was the Secondary's that had sent those Primary's to attack the villages. They declared war and swept through Light Country and killed off all of the Secondary's."

"If the Secondary's had such great chakra control why were they unable to defeat Mist?" asked Sasuke.

"Well for one Mist had far greater numbers. Also the Secondary's were a naturally peaceful people who at the time of the genocide had hoped that they would just be taken as POW's they didn't know they were to be executed. Also those that did resist were at a disadvantage because their chakra control was very good for doing genjutsu and ninjutsu but because they were peaceful people they never felt the need to train in taijutsu and Mist sent all of its taijutsu experts."

"And Konoha." Kakashi cut in sharply.

"And Konoha sent its taijutsu users to assist in the slaughter." Tsunade conceded miserably. "It was mostly at the whim of the elders but the Third did not stop it. We really thought the Secondary's were attacking us. It was later that we realized that the intelligence was false. By then it was too late, the Secondary's were gone."

There was a contemplative silence. "Where are we headed?" asked Kakashi stepping up to accept the scroll.

"You are ok to take this mission?" Tsunade asked, eyeing the younger men worriedly. Naruto still looked anguished but he nodded.

"We will bring Sakura back." Kakashi promised taking the scroll. He then turned to his team. "Pack up we leaved in an hour." They all teleported to their respective homes to prepare, Tsunade sank down into her chair and held her face in her hands; her shoulders shook with her sobs.

The four man team crashed through the forest at break neck speeds. It was not a long journey to Light Country but they would need to get there before any other ninja happened upon the bodies. Kakashi could hear the muffled sniffling from Naruto behind him, they were all crushed by the news of Sakura's death but Naruto was still crying even now as he thought of Sakura's prone form, lifeless and alone.

Nightfall was approaching as they came upon the scene; unfortunately they were not the first ones there. Mist ANBU were inspecting the bodies of Takoto's team. Team Kakashi took a stance ready to fight them off away from the bodies, there were only two Mist shinobi but it would still be a challenge given that they were ANBU ranked. Kakashi quickly scanned the clearing looking for any signs of pink, he spotted a spot where clearly something had been bleeding but was dragged off into the bushes.

"Where's the kunoichi?" Kakashi asked the ANBU who took fighting stances. "Better yet…why are you two even here? Mist is over a day's journey away…" He saw that they held the headbands of the rogue nins who were killed by Takoto's team and Sakura. Suddenly they attacked and the battle was on.

Kakashi had to use his sharingan against the enemies, as did Sasuke. Naruto and Sai were trying to deal with one while the sharingan users took the other. These ANBU were no joke, eventually Sai and Sasuke were eliminated, knocked on conscious. Naruto quickly tried to move their prone forms from the fight while Kakashi did his best using ninjutsu to defeat their opponents. They were able to either kill or knock out one of the shinobi but the other was proving to be very difficult. Kakashi's eyes widened in shock as an ice sword jutsu came crashing down on him, piercing his chest along with his lung and his legs. Kakashi passed out from blood loss, his vision growing dark as he vaguely heard Naruto shouting "RASENGAN!"

*~* Kakashi's POV *~*

Pink. That's what I saw. My eyes drifted open and they were blurred at first. I wasn't in pain…I must be dead. The events of the battle played in my mind as my vision focused slowly. I was looking up into Sakura's face. Her face show relief and pure happiness. Whatever I did to deserve heaven I'm not sure, and I definitely won't question any decision from a higher power on this…I was finally with Sakura again. I never thought our reunion would be in the afterlife but it was nice none the less. Her tears spilled over from her beautiful green eyes and a few drops pattered against the material of my mask.

Sakura's face was partially shadowed by what appeared to be a flickering candle light. Her hair was much longer than I remembered it, it fell in silky locks of cotton candy over her shoulders and around me like a curtain. All I saw was Sakura and she was so beautiful. So this is what she looked like when she died….

She began to say things that didn't make sense to me. "You're finally awake I was worried you never would…" her voice cracked a bit and she squeezed her eyes shut willing away the tears I think… Her eyes snapped open and she leaned down closer to my face speaking a little more softly. "You can hear me right Kakashi?"

I nodded vaguely, immediately noticing the honorific missing. To be in a place where Sakura saw me as more than just the old man that used to train her, this is definitely heaven. "Are you in pain--?" I interrupted her earnest question by reaching up to grab her by the shoulders; I flipped us over with all the grace I could with the bandages restricting me.

I pressed my lips to hers swiftly muffling her surprised cries. My mask was being annoyingly obstructive just as I reached up to pull down my mask my right side was overcome with pain. I fell over to the side with a pained grunt. My hand came down to my side to come away with blood. "I'm not dead?" I mumbled confused. I looked down to Sakura whose face was flushed beet red. She shook her head slowly indicating I was indeed alive. "Well damn…" I just kissed Sakura.

Chapter 2 preview: Kakashi finds out what happened after he passed out and how Sakura survived but what will he do now that he's taken their professional relationship to the next level?

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	2. Chapter 2: Explanations

**Title: Cherry Blossoms in Fall**

**Pairing(s):** Sakura/Kakashi; Minor: Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Naruto, Sakura/Sai Eventually minor pairings: Naruto/Hinata

**Rating:** M (Lemons, explicit language, and violence)

**Summary:** Sakura was sent on a secret mission for two years not long after the Sasuke recovery team was formed. Since she's been gone, Sasuke came back on his own and team Kakashi was reformed minus Sakura. With information saying that Sakura is KIA what will happen to team Kakashi?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Naruto characters or any other ideas drawn from the series.

**Recap: **Team Kakashi heads to the Fire/Light border to retrieve Sakura's body but instead end up fighting two Mist ANBU. Kakashi wakes up to the sight of Sakura alive and well and kisses her in his confusion.

Chapter 2: Explanations

Sakura sat up, seeing the pain in Kakashi's single onyx eye; she helped him lay back down on his back and inspected the wound in his side. Her face was still flushed from their heated interaction but she didn't say anything about it, sensing it was best to just not ask. Her lips tingled but she brushed it off as being a sensation caused by the rough material of his mask against her lips. "Stay still Kakashi." She admonished and began to push her healing chakra into his side.

"How long have I been asleep…?" Kakashi enquired, hoping that changing the subject might distract his mind from the fact that Sakura's strawberry scent had invaded his nose to the point of making his head dizzy. The mask that usually blocked the intrusive smells around him now had the scent of her clinging to it and making his blood pump.

Sakura could feel how fast Kakashi's heart was beating and a flutter flitted through her lower belly when she realized it was her doing. She bit her bottom lip to stop the flattered smile from crossing her face. "Three days. I would have healed you completely had you woken up sooner but I didn't want to seal up your wounds until I was sure there was no mysterious pains anywhere."

Kakashi murmured his understanding but was surprised at how long he had been asleep, his wounds were severe though. He found it hard to breathe still even though it was obvious that Sakura had healed his punctured lung. "Nothing is hurting that shouldn't hurt I don't think…chest is a bit tight…"

"That's from the lung injury, mostly healed."

"Legs are now hurting like a bitch…"

"Understandable after having giant ice shards pierce them. I heal those next. How's your side?" She asked nodding down to where she was healing.

"No pain now. I doubt his attack left any remnants in me it was all made of ice and all." Kakashi mused. He could taste blood in his mouth and realized he might have had a tooth or two knocked loose by a punch at some point. Oh dear…Sakura will have to check that. Kakashi swallowed some of the blood so as to postpone that particular inspection.

Sakura quietly healed him for awhile until she noticed him observing his three unconscious or sleeping companions, he wasn't sure which. "Sasuke and Sai haven't woken yet. Naruto was awake for a little while yesterday got him some ramen and he cried for an hour or so. You guys thought I was dead?"

Kakashi felt the grief he felt three days ago tug in his chest, but if he were asked he'd insist it was the lung injury. "Yes a fellow from that group of chunins you saved told us you were dead. We came to get your body. He said he'd checked to see if you were dead."

"I was dead, for a minute or two. After he'd left a demon came and possessed my body, it brought me back to life and helped me heal. Some of the villagers found me and brought me home."

"Those Secondary abilities of yours sure are handy." Kakashi said, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

Sakura was briefly surprised that he knew she was a Secondary. "Tsunade told you then."

"Yes. She didn't say what you were doing out here though."

"Training and doing some research on my clan." Kakashi was now eyeing her clothes curiously. She wore a white haori and red hakamas, her feet were bare and he could see that beneath the white haori she just wore a fishnet shirt. Sakura followed his sight and saw that her haori was open rather provocatively so that he could see plenty of the curves of her recently grown breasts. Her blush spread down from her face to her neck and she idly pulled the neck of the haori closed. Her long pink hair fell down to almost the length it did when she was a genin but she parted her bangs differently with a slight tilt to the left side of her face and the bangs fell in voluptuous curves around her face.

"Hmmm what's with the get up?" Kakashi asked but his tone gave the distinct impression that he wasn't actually listening but was studying her intently.

"I've been working as a priestess for the Flower village. You're all healed now." Sakura murmured. Kakashi sat up and stretched a bit feeling the usual tightness that was present right after a healing.

Now that he was sitting up next to her he could see that one thing certainly did not change, Sakura was still a petit little thing when compared to him. Sitting up he could tell he had a head over her still. He could smell her natural strawberry scent but it had hints of her arousal, she was looking over at Sasuke and Naruto but she obviously still had her attention on him. He could see her eyes dart to the corners to peak at him and look back. _So cute…_ Kakashi's eye creased happily and he reached out to ruffle her hair much to Sakura's annoyance.

Sakura scowled at him but her head snapped back around immediately when there was stirring from the prone forms. Sasuke made a grunting sound and his eyes slowly opened. Sakura shuffled over to him and Kakashi watched but his nose was picking up that the aroused vanilla smell she had given off along with the strawberry smell was dissipating. _Hmmm So I can cause such a reaction but not Sasuke? Interesting._

Sasuke's eyes widened at the sight of Sakura bent over him. "How are you feeling Sasuke? Where does it hurt?" Sakura asked immediately she could tell he was in pain.

Sasuke's mouth opened and closed for a minute as he tried to come up with a proper response after seeing his pink haired teammate again. "My…leg." Sakura moved down to his leg and ripped off some of the material of his pants to get a look at the leg he had shifted. Sakura got to work healing while the two stoic men watched her.

Kakashi watched as Sasuke stared at Sakura with a certain intensity that had his possessive instincts riled. Kakashi decided to spare Sakura the trouble of explaining things again for Sasuke and began to rattle off all that Sakura had told him. Sasuke continued to stare at Sakura but he'd occasionally give a soft "Hn." Indicating he was listening.

Luckily Naruto and Sai woke up half way through the explanation so there was little to explain to them. Sakura got to work healing Sai and Kakashi was beginning to wonder where she was getting all the chakra she was using.

"Aren't you getting tired Sakura?"

Sakura smiled and closed up a wound on Sai. "I can draw the chakra from the environment. Like this candle…" Sakura reached across Sai and pointed at the flame with a slender finger. The tip of her finger glowed a warm orange that matched the flame's color; a smoky aura became visible around the flame and was drawn into her finger. The other shinobi could sense her chakra flaring and growing a little larger.

"You effectively have an infinite supply of chakra." Sai said in amazement.

Sakura grinned sheepishly. "It takes loads of concentration to do that level of chakra control, and it takes time. Not very useful for battle purposes unless I get really good at it, and if I'm ever fighting somewhere where there are very few life forms to take chakra from it won't work out so well."

"Hn…"

"Can you take the chakra from an enemy?" asked Kakashi.

"If I'm in close proximity like while using taijutsu." Sakura said suddenly becoming a little wary of revealing too much. But these guys were the closest thing she had to family now. Sakura finished up on Sai and looked around to the rest. "Would you guys like to soak in the hot spring? It will be good for healing and we can catch up!" She was the picture of excitement but Kakashi wasn't sure he could survive seeing Sakura in just a towel, blood loss could be fatal even through the nose.

"YEAH!" Naruto pumped his fist in the air, jumping up and down as if he hadn't had a hole through the gut three days ago.

"Have you recently had a sex change?" Sai enquired to Sakura who glared in response.

"Noooo…" She replied hesitantly, _Sai is such an oddball_.

"Then how do you plan on joining us? Won't the innkeeper be bothered?" Sai asked innocently.

Sakura scoffed. "We aren't at an inn. This is the Tsukino castle. My birth parents were part of the Tsukino clan so they used to live here." The Tsukino's were also one of the leading clans of the Secondary's so they had a vast library of their writings so it was helpful for Sakura's research.

Sasuke looked about the small shoji paneled room incredulously. His eyes fell on the few candles that were lighting the room. "Could they not afford electricity?"

Kakashi smirked when Sakura turned her death glare onto Sasuke who seemed to be unused to receiving it because he blinked in surprise then glared right back fiercely. "They didn't install electricity in this room because they paneled the walls with this special chakra so that it encourages healing and keeps out infectious bacteria that might get into the wounded's injuries." Sakura explained. She stood up and gave the two palest members of the group a sharp glare. "And since it seems Kakashi and Naruto are the only polite guests around here I'll escort them to the springs."

Sakura walked over to help Kakashi up and he gave her a happy eye crease. Sometimes it paid off to not speak one's sarcastic mind and he definitely got a nice eyeful of what was down Sakura's haori when she bent to give him a hand up. _Verrrry nice._

Sakura glared at the perverted copy nin but what stopped her from punching his lights out like she would Naruto was how her heart jumped clear into her throat and decided to pump a mile a minute. She blushed fiercely and allowed the great copy nin to lean against her side. Naruto ran ahead excitedly to the shoji door and slid it open already running down the wrong hallway despite Sakura's shouts to wait.

Kakashi lazily peaked over his shoulder at the stoic pale faces. He gave them a lazy victorious smirk as he wound an arm around Sakura's thin waist. They might not be able to see his smirk because of the mask but they obviously sensed his meaning because they both stiffened and glared. He brought his other hand up to give a backwards wave.

Sakura led Kakashi and Naruto down what had to be five different outdoor hallways, the Tsukino castle was a large Japanese styled estate with shoji doors and wooden hallways that lined the outdoors around the numbers rooms. Sakura took them from a smaller building that was connected to the much larger main house. Kakashi observed the large stone walls that surrounded the estate.

It was dark outside, not long after sundown from what Kakashi deduced but he could still make out the out of place sight ahead of them. "The cherry blossom trees…" Kakashi murmured curiously. Naruto stopped and squinted at the trees seen ahead of them.

Sakura smiled fondly. "They bloom here most of the year because of the special ancient chakra in the walls around the castle; it insulates this place from most of the harsher elements."

They walked towards the trees to the end of the hallway that went down to wooden stares to the ground. They walked along the grass, Kakashi momentarily concerned for Sakura's bare feet but he could see that she had full confidence in where they were going. They didn't have to walk far before they came upon a large hot spring with cherry blossom trees surrounding it. Sakura pulled some towels out of a cabinet that was built into one of the larger trees. She handed them the towels and murmured something about going to help "the brats."

Naruto jumped in once he was stripped bare, forgoing the towel since it looked like the water was abdomen deep anyway. He sighed contently as he relaxed against the smooth rock side. Kakashi stripped and saw that Sakura had given him a small rag for his face and he slid into the water feeling the tight achiness from his wounds melt away.

Sakura soon returned with Sasuke and Sai who were staring at each other from either side of Sakura. Sasuke glaring slightly and Sai looking impassive, they each had an arm around Sakura only somewhat leaning on her like Kakashi had done. Kakashi smiled in amusement when they both turned the smallest of glares towards him. Naruto completely oblivious.

Sakura gave them towels and then padded back to the main house saying she was going to grab her swimsuit.

Sasuke and Sai slid into the water and each mail moved to three of the farthest corners the hot spring allowed and exchanged subtle looks to each other. Naruto took a random spot next to Sasuke unaware of the tension. He grinned a goofy grin across the spring to Sai.

"Sakura's hot ain't she??" Naruto said excitedly. Naruto made vague gestures with his hands indicating her breasts were bigger. Training with the ero-sennin had some obvious effects on the boy's behavior. Ironically even though of the three younger boys he was the least pretty or handsome of them, though that's not to say he wasn't handsome in his own way, he was the one of the three with the most experience with women. Sasuke couldn't be bothered and Sai didn't know where to begin even having a normal conversation with a female. Naruto had visited his fair share of red light districts with Jiraiya.

"Shut up dobe." Sasuke said flatly. Sasuke suddenly found himself in a very bad position. He knew when it came to experience he couldn't compare to Naruto or Kakashi. He had always expected Sakura to forever fall over at his feet in adoration and now that she seemed to not be interested in him and was getting eyed by the perverted copy nin he was a bit worried. Not to mention she was quite the hot commodity, she's gotten a nice body since his defection and apparently was the last blood descendent of a legendary race.

If she wasn't claimed by some man already it would happen very soon, perhaps the moment she stepped back into Konoha. He wouldn't put it past the Hokage to try to set her up with the young Kazekage as a political marriage. Suddenly Sasuke didn't feel so much out of her league; she was now a more than worthy opponent and perhaps too good for him. But that wouldn't stop him. He was a Uchiha after all, soon to be the last one. He would win back her affection…even if he had to be…NICE.

Sai glanced at Sasuke and could feel the rivalry flaring around him while he glared at Kakashi. Kakashi returned it with a happy eye crease that had the Uchiha fuming inside.

"You shut up teme!" Naruto growled unaware no one was paying attention anyway.

Lilting feminine laughter had the four men turning to see Sakura padding over in a pink bathing suit that matched the pink locks she had rolled up into a bun at the top of her head. A few stray strands grazed the gentle slope of her neck and her bangs still bounced freely as she jogged over to them. "You two are still the same!" Sakura laughed, grinning nostalgically down at the now red faced Uchiha and the kyuubi container who was grinning like a pervert as he eyed Sakura.

Kakashi's eye was drawn down to her navel momentarily. "Is that a piercing Sakura?" asked Kakashi.

Sakura flushed and subconsciously reached down to run a slender finger against the cool ball of the belly button piercing. "It's part of my research." She insisted truthfully though she didn't look very convincing with how embarrassed she was acting. "Storing chakra in piercings like with the ANBU tattoos, this way perhaps there could be a way to remove the piercing so an enemy might not realize they are ANBU. Its technology I learned from studying the walls here." Sakura explained as she slipped her long slim legs into the water and sat on the edge instead of sliding in.

"What happened to the Mist ANBU?" Sai cut in curiously.

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know I was taken out not long after Kakashi…"

"You were taken out but when I showed up moments later the guy you were fighting gave up and left taking his buddy with him." Sakura revealed. "Some villagers helped me bring you guys back here to heal you. Then I went back to dispose of the bodies."

"Did those Mist nin take all the secrets from them?" asked Kakashi somewhat alarmed that they might have failed this mission.

"No after I was saved by the demon I went back and grabbed the information from the rogue nin and the leaf nin. I've already sent it back to Konoha but it looks like there's going to be trouble. I've requested that you guys could stay here for a little bit while I rap up my research. I'm worried those Mist nin will bring reinforcements to investigate why I am here." Sakura said.

"Why would they care that you are here?" asked Sai.

"Because the Flower village has sort of been named an unofficial no trespassing land because of the Secondary massacre. The other villages try not to send any ninjas here as a general rule." Sakura explained. "Besides they might have intelligence already that there might be a Secondary alive. If any of the villages has knowledge of that it's Mist they were running the massacre after all."

"What would happen if they knew you were a Secondary?" asked Sasuke.

"Well first they'd try to win me over to join their village, when that fails they'll try to kill me as quietly as possible. Then if they fail at that they will probably leak out my identity."

"Why would they do that?" asked Naruto.

"So that I'll get a special bingo book dedicated to all about me and then every ninja and his grandmother will be out to either recruit me or kill me." Sakura growled in annoyance, not with Naruto but with the idea of that happening. "Also…" she hesitated briefly wondering if she was about to say too much. "I found information on those rogue nins. It looks like there is a group of rogue nins teaming up with some of the surviving Sound nins to attack Konoha. It wasn't clear how they were going to do that but it said sometime in January. It might be better for you guys to not be there because they might be looking to kill Sasuke and Naruto specifically. But I left that for Tsunade to decide in the message I sent her."

"What are we going to do for two months?" asked Sasuke in distaste.

"We'll figure that out once we find out what the Hokage thinks." Kakashi cut in authoritatively.

"So how is Konoha?" asked Sakura eagerly.

Naruto went into an excited story about how Ino and Shikamaru were engaged. Sasuke and Sai had the faintest of smiles as the companionable atmosphere warmed the area. Kakashi idly observed Sakura who was smiling down at Naruto from where she sat. She was proving to be very distracting, she broke out laughing hysterically when Naruto told her about how Ino's first date with Shikamaru was interrupted by the vast majority of the Rookie Nine butting in and hijacking their meal. Kiba apparently let Akamaru lick all over a livid Ino's face.

"hahaha poor Ino-pig." Sakura said with a touch of fondness.

Their warm reunion was interrupted by a young man around the boys age running up waving a scroll. "Sakura hime! This scroll just came in from Konoha!" he shouted earnestly. He ran up and gave it to Sakura, he nervously eyed the four handsome males in the hot spring who were burning holes into him with their glares. The boy blushed when Sakura thanked him politely and he rushed off.

"Sakura hime?" Kakashi murmured curiously. Sakura flushed but didn't comment and opened the scroll.

"Well…get comfy boys you're hangin' with me for two months." Sakura said with a grin.

_Hmmm this seems promising… _Kakashi thought as he watched Sakura walk back towards the castle, his eyes following her pert heart shaped behind. He only vaguely heard her shout about setting up bedrooms for them, his onyx eye traveled to the other males to see them watching her departure as well. _Let the games begin…_ Kakashi smiled his happy eye crease of a smile.

Chapter 3 preview: Sakura puts the boys to work and they learn more about the Flower village but how is Sakura to deal with strange Sai flirtations, Naruto's mischievous gropes, Sasuke's compliments, and Kakashi's husky teases? Poor Sakura…(pffft who am I kidding I'm so jealous…)

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	3. Chapter 3: The Flower Village

**Title: Cherry Blossoms in Fall**

**Pairing(s):** Sakura/Kakashi; Minor: Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Naruto, Sakura/Sai Eventually minor pairings: Naruto/Hinata

**Rating:** M (Lemons, explicit language, and violence)

**Summary:** Sakura was sent on a secret mission for two years not long after the Sasuke recovery team was formed. Since she's been gone, Sasuke came back on his own and team Kakashi was reformed minus Sakura. With information saying that Sakura is KIA what will happen to team Kakashi?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Naruto characters or any other ideas drawn from the series. Nor do I make any profit from the series.

**Recap: **After healing her former team Sakura gets a message from Tsunade telling her to keep the boys in the Flower village for two months until more information about an upcoming attack on Konoha is revealed.

Chapter 3: The Flower Village

Kakashi slept soundly in the large comfortable bed that Sakura had provided. She'd set up four rooms in the North wing of the estate, her room was down the hall a ways. They were in good walking distance to the hot springs, the living room, and the dining room. Sakura had told them it was the area of the compound that her branch of the family had lived.

His peaceful sleep was interrupted by a mundane nightmare. The scene was the training grounds where he'd often trained team 7. He sat lazily against a tree reading his favorite book in the Icha Icha series while Naruto and Sasuke did their usual sparring routine. Sakura wasn't seen at first but then he heard a piercing scream fill the air. He looked up sharply to see Naruto and Sasuke fighting as if no one had screamed but then he saw to the right of their fight stood Sakura.

Sakura's form was back to the way it was in the genin days, her hair long still. She was watching Naruto and Sasuke fight but was hunched over at the waist, clutching it in agony. Kakashi stood and made his way over to her. "Sakura? Are you alright?" he asked concerned but it looked as if she couldn't hear him.

Her voice suddenly filled his mind. His lone onyx eye widened in alarm at the anguish in her voice. _Why?! Why am I always left behind? Left out! Why doesn't Kakashi-sensei train me like he does them? Am I useless? Does he hate me? What is WRONG with me?_

Kakashi reached his arms out towards her weakly, wanting to hug her close but fearing the intimacy of it all. He didn't mean to hurt her. It was all a mistake.

Sakura's knees gave way and mysterious slices in her skin began to form on their own. Blood seeped from the wounds and Sakura was crying in agony. Kakashi shook violently his hand inches away from her petit form.

_I can't tell sensei I'm hurt! He'll think I'm weak. He'll kick me off the team, replace me with someone better. I can't be left alone! I can't be left behind again!_

"No no Sakura!" Kakashi shouted moving in front of her to block her view of the fight but she still stared past him as if not seeing him at all. Her eyes unfocused but tears still trickled down her soft cheeks. He grabbed her by the shoulders, feeling the blood seep through her tunic and smear his hands. He shook her demanding her attention but never getting it. "You aren't weak! You never were! I saw your potential Sakura. I swear I did. I just…" he trailed off, no longer able to look at her. He thought back to those old days. To the stupid reasons why he didn't try to teach Sakura.

"It wasn't anything you did Sakura…You have to understand, I'd not had a female teammate since Rin. She...I can smell your scent. I was worried I'd become attracted to you and that it would ruin the team. So I kept my distance. I should have sucked it up. I shouldn't have treated you differently! But don't blame yourself. Anything but that…" Kakashi's ramble drifted off and in his arms Sakura's unfocused eyes rolled back into her head and she fell limp, blood flowing like rivers out of the number of cuts on her body.

"Kakashi?" Sakura's large green eyes peered down at the man who looked so fragile and distressed in his sleep. She had come to wake him up and tell him breakfast was ready. He lay on his stomach his face turned away and shadowed by an arm he had craned over as if to shield his head. She reached out tentatively and set her small hands against his bare back, right on his shoulder blades. She didn't push him awake yet just touched him, not sure it was a good idea to wake a shinobi like Kakashi from a violent dream.

Kakashi jerked awake violently, his hitai-ate was gone and his sharingan just as wide and alarmed as his onyx eye, its tomes spinning in a panic. Sakura gasped when his arm came away quick as lightning, revealing that in his sleep his elastic mask had slipped down to his chin. But he moved so fast she never got a clear look because in a flash he was on top of her. Sakura squeaked in alarm, her heart rate speeding up from the shock but no fear at all in her mind. She could never fear this man, she trusted him completely.

Kakashi's weight sunk onto her, pushing her into the mattress. His arms hugged her tightly to his bare chest, were she not so concerned for him she would have thoroughly enjoyed the feel of his sculpted but not bulging muscles pressed firmly against her lithe form. She hesitantly reached her arms up around beneath his to rest again on his shoulder blades. His face was hidden in the crook of her neck and she could feel his warm breath making the skin there tingle.

She heard him mumbling into her neck, his husky natural tone making it even harder to understand. "Kakashi? Are you ok?" she breathed in concern.

His mumbling stopped and he slowly brought his face up to look down at her. Sakura's breath caught at the sight. The mask clung to his neck and chin but his lips and nose were clearly visible even in the darkened room. His nose was straight having a masculine look to it, a tiny bit longer than what was considered the perfect proportion for a nose but it complimented his wide mouth. No fish lips, or buck teeth from what she could see. His mouth, even though it was set in an emotionless line, had the wideness that seemed to suggest that he would have a beautiful smile.

Kakashi watched Sakura watch him. At first he just wanted to look at her face, to see her looking back at him, to see her ok. Then he noticed his face was bare for the first time for the young girl beneath him. And when her face flushed a shy red his face split into a wide grin. Sakura's jaw dropped. His smile was better than even she imagined, the slightest hint of dimples were present in the creases of his smile. She noticed at the edge of his smile there were a few teeth that looked like they'd been bleeding from the gums recently.

Sakura scowled her medic scowl and Kakashi smiled in amusement, his grin turning into one of his happy eye crease smiles. "What did you do to your teeth?" Sakura growled, she almost looked offended that he had marred in anyway the perfection before her. Kakashi laughed nervously, his arm coming up to scratch a hand behind his head, his weight shifting to the arm still on the bed.

"That happened during the fight with those Mist nin, one of them must have socked me pretty good in the mouth." He said contemplatively reaching up to shift his jaw around with his hand to crack it a bit. Sakura growled and suddenly flipped them over, causing a surprised copy nin to stare up at her. Sakura was ordering him to open his mouth and she was peering inside at the damage.

_I shouldn't be aroused…but I am. I'm such a dirty old man. _Kakashi thought sheepishly as he looked at Sakura's concentrated face. She seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that she was sitting on his navel and that if she shifted a few inches down she'd feel the evidence of his arousal clearly.

She set her small hand against his cheek and began to push her healing chakra into his cheek and down to his gums. She mumbled curses and others things like "Troublesome man," "Doesn't even know what's good for him." She turned her glare up to his eyes when she'd finished and he chuckled and gave her a wink, successfully throwing her anger for a loop. Sakura sat up with her flushed face and crossed her arms, still sitting on his navel.

"So what were you dreaming about?" her features softened.

Kakashi turned to look towards the shoji door because he found that not making eye contact made it easier to deflect from this particular companion, and watching her sit astride him was cause for too many inappropriate images to wander through his mind.

"Do I smell breakfast? Mmmm eggs and bacon." Kakashi said with a smile.

Sakura blinked in surprise and sniffed the air curiously. "How can you smell that from here?" she asked, making sure to make a mental note to ask him again about his dream.

Kakashi grinned a toothy grin and she saw that his canines were longer than the rest of his teeth, giving them almost a fanged look. Not quite as prominent as Kiba's fangs but still noticeable. The effect ended up being that he had a mischievous look to the grin. "It's part of my blood pact with the nin-dogs. I can smell…" here his eyes traveled down to where the apex of her thighs sat pressed to his stomach. "All sorts of things." He finished giving her that happy eye crease again. Sakura noticed the insinuation and her eyes widened.

"Y-You can smell…that?" she asked in alarm.

Kakashi smirked, and with the fangs it had such a feral look that she was immediately aroused and tingling all over. "And not just the blood smell, I can smell when you're ovulating. And if I'm close enough…like right now, I can smell if or who you've been with. Who'd have thought our beautiful cherry blossom was so pure." His husky words were said in combination with his large hands caressing her thighs. Sakura's jaw dropped and then after processing the words she glared. She punched him in the chest and stood up storming to the door.

"Breakfast is ready you pervert! If you aren't out here in half an hour I'll come back and drag you out." Sakura warned as she dashed out of the room. Kakashi smirked and lazily made his way to the bathroom connected to his room. _A nice cold shower to start the day._

Breakfast had been nice and loud thanks to Naruto. They all sat around a largish table designed for a family of 8. Sakura was up earlier than the rest, save Sasuke who was up training in the courtyard. Sakura made breakfast and did some work in the West Wing of the castle. As breakfast concluded Sakura got their attention, Naruto was fighting against an impassive Sai for the last cinnamon bun.

"Ok! Here are the rules for living here. Since this is MY home." Sakura clarified when she saw Naruto about to protest. "Rule #1! Do not enter any of the rooms on the far side of the West wing, the library is close to the entrance so you might find me there but I've clearly marked the rooms you cannot enter. I'm running experiments and it could be dangerous. Am I clear?" She got a few grunts from the pale faces and a nod from Kakashi. "Rule #2! I will not be the only one doing housework around here. Keep your rooms clean." She glared at Naruto pointedly. "Do any cleaning around the house that you can and help out with making the meals when you can. I understand if you're busy training or working but I have to work too and I'm not your slave." Here she inserted a glare.

"Which brings me to Rule 3. You WILL work odd jobs in the village to earn your keep. This is not negotiable. The village donates me food because I work at the shrine and heal the sick but you guys will have to help them finish the harvest and help with any construction jobs they need done."

"Are we getting paid for that?" asked Sasuke.

"Tsunade says she will continue paying you guy's the S rank salary she was going to give you for your original mission. So if you're being paid that much to pick vegetables and fix roofs then you better do a damn good job." Sakura warned. "Tsunade says I'm in charge of overseeing you guy's stay here and Kakashi will be doing some training so I think the best schedule is that you work until lunch and then train until dinner. Lunch will be at 1pm so I'll meet you guys back here then."

"Where are you going Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto.

Sakura motioned towards her priestess get up. "I'll be at the temple doing priestessy things. I'll show you guys to the Flower Village and introduce you to the village head." Sakura got up and paused when she saw what they were wearing. "Uhh actually let's get you some change of clothes." Sakura suggested.

At the same time her boys all look down at themselves. "What's wrong with the way we're dressed?" asked Kakashi.

"You look like ninja…"

"We ARE ninja." Sasuke snapped. Sakura looked to be two seconds away from punching him.

"Yeah you need to look LESS like ninja because the villagers don't like ninja." Sakura called as she made her way toward the North wing to a spare bedroom. The boys followed and Sakura gave them haoris to wear over their mesh shirts instead of the flak jacket and other assorted tops. "You can wear your jounin pants Kakashi…Naruto get into these hakamas. You're good Sai. Don't need to change anything with Sasuke." She mused as she stepped out of the room followed by Sasuke to leave the others to change. When they stepped out looking more like the poor villagers they needed to pretend to be Sakura approved. "Good good. I'll move some more old clothes to your closets later." Sakura said and waved for them to follow her out of the estate.

"Why don't they like ninja?" asked Naruto.

"The Flower village's entire population used to be the Secondary's. When they were exterminated the Mist sent some refugees who were escaping civil war in Snow country here. They said if they cleaned up their mess they could have the land here."

"The mess?"

"Basically these people I'm about to introduce you guys to came to this village only to find the streets and homes littered with the bodies of men, women, and children. They had to bury all the bodies and recreate their lives here after seeing all that death. Basically they don't have a very good opinion of ninjas especially Mist nin."

"Hn." Sasuke responded as they made their ways through a forest path.

"Many of them will probably know what you guys are anyway because some of the villagers helped me bring you to the castle but once you've made yourselves useful they won't mind that you're ninja." Sakura said as they broke through a clearing. Before them stood a cluster of buildings most of them homes but there were also outlines of large compounds where clans must have resided at one point. They made their way down being greeted by villagers who mostly just greeted Sakura.

"Sakura-himeeee!" a group of children screamed running up and greeting the pinkette with grins. Sakura smiled and gave a few of them hugs.

"Have you guys seen Jinenji-sama?" asked Sakura.

"Yeah! He went with my dad to the fields!" a small black haired girl enthused, she was obviously very happy to be of help to Sakura. The children started dashing off towards the fields and Sakura and the boys followed at a light jog.

"Jinenji-sama!" Sakura shouted as a burly tall man turned from his perusal of the fields to regard her. His face split into a grin, giving him a youthful look that clashed with his gray hairs.

He smiled down at Sakura as she came to a stop in front of him. "Sakura-hime what a pleasant surprise! Are these those raggedy ninja we pulled out of the woods days ago?" He asked with slight surprise.

"Yes they are the closest thing I have to family in Konoha. I was hoping you could find some jobs for them to do in exchange for some extra food…" Sakura said hopefully, pulling out the girlish charm. She tilted her hip to the side and folded her hands in a begging manner. Her face had an infectious smile that wasn't flirtatious like the look she would use on team 7 back in the genin days, it was one a wheedling daughter would use on her father.

Jinenji smiled and shook his head at her antics. "Of course Sakura-hime. What're your names boys?"

"Kakashi."

"Sasuke."

"Sai."

"NARUTO UZUMAKI! Believe it!"

Sasuke shook his head in annoyance at Naruto's volume level. Sai rolled his eyes and Kakashi cradled his head in his hand like he was developing a headache.

Jinenji's laughter boomed loudly. "Well! Naruto Uzumaki! I've got a job for a guy with energy like you." Jinenji led the boys away into the field and Sakura waved them off.

Sakura pushed chakra into her feet and made a mad dash to the shrine. It was set above the town in a hill side so she took the hundreds of shine steps in a few leaps. She made it at the top and dashed under the tori's. She saw a few villagers already in line to pray for their blessings and Sakura greeted them. As she ran for the shrine she ran clear into the head of the shrine.

"Hey Jin-kun." Sakura said with an apologetic face. Jin was not much older than Sakura, he had a Sasuke feel and look to him but he wasn't quite as attractive as the last Uchiha. But he still garnered a lot of attention from the young women who came to the shrine. He had also been training her in swordsmanship these past two years but now as he patted his black hair back into the high ponytail he kept it in he gave her a stern glare.

"What a coincidence." He said as he stood up and gave her a hand up. "You're just in time to sweep." He handed her the broom he'd been holding and smirked as she scowled at him.

"Sweeping AGAIN? It doesn't get that dusty up here!"

He walked away to talk to the guests at the shrine as if he couldn't hear her. As Sakura swept she felt something brush the backs of her calves. She nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise and she turned to see a black cat staring up at her, having just recently rubbed her languid body against Sakura's legs.

"Hey! Where have you been?" asked Sakura in annoyance. The cat looked up at her with bored green eyes to match her own.

_I've been watching you little one. Don't you worry._ _I see your friends are all healed up._ The cat responded without even fluttering her long whiskers.

"You know…you could have said hello to them. They would have liked to have met the demon who saved my life." Sakura said tentatively.

The cat purred and her face got what could only be described as a smirk. _I would have said hello to that silver dog you were with but you two looked rather…busy…_

Sakura's face blushed realizing the demon cat had seen her interaction with Kakashi. "Kakashi isn't a dog demon."

_No he has a blood pact with a nin-dog tribe though. It's about the same thing._ Lynx, as the cat came to be called by Sakura proceeded to observe Sakura who continued to sweep. Sakura was learning all sorts of new things about Kakashi recently, especially about his contract with Pakkun and the other nin dogs. Lynx smiled mischievously. _He wants to mate with you, ya know. _She said casually and watched in utter amusement as Sakura's sweeping stopped abruptly and the young woman's face turned far pinker than her namesake.

"How do you know that?" Sakura asked suspiciously.

_Every time he sees you mating pheromones roll off him in waves. He wants you bad. _

"You can smell that?" Sakura asked intrigued.

_He can too. He can smell how aroused you are when he is close. He knows you want him too. I've no idea what's stopping you…He smells delicioussss. _Lynx stretched lethargically and proceeded to curl up right in Sakura's sweeping path. The pinkette paid it no mind, being used to the cat's ways.

Sakura blushed. "Just because he is attracted to me doesn't mean he wants to "mate." Sakura said making quotations in the air with her free hand, the broom forgotten in the other.

The cat opened a single eye lazily and the sight reminded Sakura of just how much Kakashi was like a cat…lazy…apathetic…sarcastic… Sakura smirked. _Mating pheromones are different than the fucking pheromones than humans give off. The silver one, Kakashi was it, can give off both scents. The fox brat gives off fucking pheromones every time you bend over. I'd watch out for that one._

Sakura's jaw dropped. "Naruto?? THAT PERVERT!" Sakura seethed. Mysteriously she was upset by Naruto being attracted to her but not Kakashi…weird… she brushes that off of course.

_The other ones want you as well; all of them give off aroused scents when around you. But I'd choose the silver haired one if I were you, kitten, he could protect you…not to mention he's smexy. Even if he is a dog… _The cat smirked as Sakura reeled at the information about her boys. They all wanted her in THAT way?? Good grief this must be a mistake. A horrible and terribly arousing mistake… _Oh you perverted little kitten, that turns you own._ The cat snickered. Sakura glared down at the Lynx. _You know…if you want to make a blood pact with me and my tribe I can give you my senses. Then you can smell just how much those men want you. _

Sakura gave Lynx a hesitant look. The cat had saved her life but she always seemed to have a little agenda on the side so she didn't want to throw herself into any blood pacts right away. "Let me think about it." Sakura moved around Lynx to sweep.

The cat demon shrugged and got up, stretching. She decided to make her way to the fields to observe her favorite Secondary's companions.

She lurked through the fields, unnoticed by most. She came up to Kakashi and Sai who were picking vegetables, a ways away Sasuke was using his sword to slice down the plants, impressing and scaring the farmers. Naruto could be seen in the distance pulling a plow like a mule, easily outrunning the mules who lazily dredged through the fields.

"Kakashi-senpai." Sai said, not looking up from his work. Kakashi glanced at the ink user and hmm-ed an acknowledgement. "What does one need to do to get a female to date him?" asked Sai. The copy nin nearly face faulted, completely aware of which female Sai was interested in. Lynx snickered from the foliage and Kakashi glanced over at the cat curiously. He could have sworn that cat had just winked at him…was that Sakura using a henge? No…the cat just smells like she's been near Sakura.

"Hmm well…" Kakashi mused, wondering how to go about this. On the one hand he was sort of obligated to teach the young man proper etiquette for social interactions…but he was a potential rival and…all's fair in love and war. "Wellll kindness is always a good start. You know…not calling the girl Ugly or a man…also in Light Country it is customary to leave a caterpillar on the pillow of a girl one likes. It symbolizes the blossoming love between the lovers that will one day become a butterfly…" Kakashi successfully bullshitted and Sai was eating it up. He could see in the youth's eyes that he was processing the information seriously and that it was making sense to him.

"And..." Kakashi ventured on hoping he wasn't pushing his luck. "You can't go wrong with Icha Icha Violence. It's practically a field guide to courting!"

Sai's look turned incredulous. "Sakura hates your erotic books."

"But Sakura reads them." Kakashi lied innocently; he looked totally convincing with his patented helpful-happy-eye-crease. "She merely gets annoyed at how true to life the books are. Sakura is such a shy girl…" Kakashi trailed off in amusement. Kakashi reached into his haori and pulled out a blue book. "Here, I'll lend this to you. Pay special attention to pages 50-93. That's the sort of stuff a male has to do to win over a female." Kakashi said handing the book to Sai. Sai opened the book and began to read. Lynx shook her head and snickered. _These humans are rather amusing._ The demon cat stretch and proceeded to look for a sunny spot to nap in the fields away from the people.

Preview of Chapter 4: Sai puts the knowledge in Icha Icha Violence to use. Meanwhile Sasuke and Kakashi duke it out in a passive aggressive training exercise.


	4. Chapter 4: Sakura's Fetish

**Title: Cherry Blossoms in Fall**

**Pairing(s):** Sakura/Kakashi; Minor: Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Naruto, Sakura/Sai Eventually minor pairings: Naruto/Hinata

**Rating:** M (Lemons, explicit language, and violence)

**Summary:** Sakura was sent on a secret mission for two years not long after the Sasuke recovery team was formed. Since she's been gone, Sasuke came back on his own and team Kakashi was reformed minus Sakura. With information saying that Sakura is KIA what will happen to team Kakashi?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Naruto characters or any other ideas drawn from the series. Nor do I make any profit from the series.

**Recap: **Sakura, Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sai are living in the Flower village working for the village for food while they wait for word from Konoha.

Chapter 4: Sakura's Fetish

The harvest was collected faster than usual thanks to the shinobi helpers the villagers had at their disposal. After a month the villagers grew comfortable having the ninja in the village and were now eagerly putting them to work fixing their roofs for the upcoming snow. The early December chill was refreshing against the heated skin of the shinobi as they labored away on the roofs.

Sasuke nailed in a final nail and sat back on his haunches and wiped his brow. He looked up towards the sun's position. "It's about noon we should head back home." Sasuke called down to Naruto and Sai who were attempting to fix a door that had been falling off its hinges.

Sasuke jumped down and watched for a few more minutes as Naruto attempted to help Sai even up the door with its frame, and failing terribly. Once it was sufficiently straight and connected with the door way they paused to look around. "Damnit where did Kakashi-sensei go?" growled Sasuke in annoyance, having an idea who Kakashi had decided to follow instead of working.

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Kakashi lazily jumped from branch to branch, effortlessly concealing his chakra so as to not alert the pink hair kunoichi to his stalking. He'd ditched hammering after the first few hours, surprising himself at how long it'd caught his attention to begin with. Now he followed Sakura like he did most days.

He knew she could take care of herself if she were to encounter any threats. That was part of what he found so enticing about her, that she could keep the members of Team Kakashi in line with a chakra powered fist but also appear so fragile and delicate. It was all only appearances of course. Never before had Kakashi felt the need to build a romantic relationship like he did now, before the only romance in his life was the warmth in his bed provided by a one night stand.

Over the last month his determination to get Sakura to notice him as more than just a teammate was only solidified. Every time Sakura turned that contagious smile on him he wanted her more. Every time she got annoyed with his sarcastic commentary he felt his blood pump like it did when he read Icha Icha Paradise, not enough to arouse him but enough to get his blood moving eagerly. She provided a challenge that he was all too eager to meet.

Most days he would leave work early to follow Sakura home from the shrine, she was usually alone and was highly entertaining to watch even as she shuffled along the forest path reading a small dictionary filled with medical terms. She would flush from the cold and twirl a long strand of her pink hair with one slender finger.

Kakashi jumped ahead of her path to sit on a branch and watch her slow progress. His peaceful observations were interrupted by the presence of a black cat hoping down from a higher branch to sit next to him.

"Stalker…" the cat admonished slyly. Kakashi jumped and looked down at the cat in surprise.

"Did…you just talk?" he asked hesitantly, questioning his sanity.

The cat gave him a bored look. "Nyah. I'm a cat demon that protects this forest."

Kakashi blinked thoughtfully. "You're the cat that's been following Sakura around."

"You're the dog that's been following Sakura around. At least my intentions are pure." The cat had such a devilish look that her supposed pure intentions were probably debatable.

"Hmmm. You're the demon that saved Sakura aren't you?" he surmised.

Lynx blinked in surprise. "You're pretty insightful for a mutt." She stretched lazily and peered down at Sakura who was still making her way along the path, the soft murmurs between the cat and ninja not catching her attention. "She is rather unobservant at times. Far too trusting as well. And she is certainly a trouble magnet." The cat sighed tiredly.

Kakashi smiled in amusement. "Yes she does doesn't she?" he said it with fondness.

The cat peaked at him with her green cat eyes and flicked her ears. "So when will you be mating with her? Are you waiting for an engraved invitation?" the cat asked dryly.

Kakashi chuckled. "Something like that. I'm waiting to be sure she is interested. Has…she said anything to you?" he asked turning to the cat trying not to appear too hopeful.

Lynx began to idly lick herself, observing the pink haired girl walk through the forest. "She didn't seem to realize all the males around her were eager to mate with her. But she seemed to be getting the reddest at the mention of you." Kakashi smiled. The cat glanced at him and resumed her cleaning. "Besides…why would she not want you? Of the four you seem the most capable." The cat mused.

Not sure what she meant by capable Kakashi chuckled sheepishly. "Well in human terms, some might think I'm a little too old for her."

"Doesn't that just mean more _experience_." The cat said suggestively, smirking out right up at the silver haired ninja.

"Hahahaha. I don't think Sakura cares if I'm _experienced_. She herself has none so any experience is probably sufficient. Besides, she probably thinks I'm a pervert…and rightly so perhaps." Kakashi sighed dismally. "An old pervert."

"Why would she think you were a pervert?" the cat asked surprised.

"Well I read porn in public for one—."

"Ohhh so that's where she gets that particular fetish from." The cat mused aloud as if to herself. Kakashi blinked in surprise.

"Umm what? Sakura hates that I read Icha Icha Paradise in public all the time."

The cat gave him an incredulous look. "Well so does she."

"No she doesn't." _Are we talking about the same Sakura?_

"What do you think she's doing NOW human?" the cat asked annoyed. Kakashi looked down to see Sakura still making progress down the path with her face in the dictionary.

"Studying medical terminology?"

The cat sighed. "You humans are so insufferable. She put a paper binding around the book she is really reading. I think she said it was Icha Icha Tactics. All last year it was Icha Icha Paradise." The cat explained, at Kakashi's disbelieving look she rolled her cat eyes skyward. "Don't tell me you can't smell the arousal rolling off that girl right now. What kind of dog are you?"

Kakashi scented the air curiously. He had always followed her at a bit of a distance to not be seen but now he could smell it. Clear as day. She was very hot about _something_.

As Sakura approached the cat and ninja jumped further up in the tree silently so as to not be seen. Sakura walked by blissfully unaware and Kakashi jumped down quietly to get a peek at what she was reading. There were definitely some graphic images that did not belong in any medical dictionary. Kakashi nearly fell out of the tree in surprise.

He shakily climbed back up to the branch Lynx sat on. She watched him hesitantly, seeing how predatory he now looked. Kakashi wasn't sure what he found so sexually exciting about Sakura reading porn in public but it had him nearly shaking in restraint. He took a deep sigh and looked down at the cat with his half lidded eye. "So how long has she been doing that exactly?"

Lynx went back to lazily cleaning herself. "Something like a year and a half. But she didn't read everyday back then like she does now. That just happened since you guys came along." She said pointedly.

Kakashi fell into a contemplative silence. "Hmmm…"

The cat grew bored with his silence and decided to have some fun with the dog. "She masturbates too you know…" Kakashi DID fall out of the tree this time. But he immediately jumped back up but tried to regain his dignity by not looking too interested.

"Oh really?" he said with as much of a disinterested air that someone with an erection and sticks from the forest floor sticking out of his gravity defying hair could have.

Lynx smirked. "Yeah it's partly why she reads that stuff I guess. After being on this mission of hers for half a year she began getting lonely and started coming into her sexual awareness you see…but she didn't want to lead on any village boys." Kakashi looked relieved by that. "But she did need assistance so she started calling it "seduction training" and ordered the Icha Icha series. When she gets home I suspect she'll…take care of herself." The cat said so slyly that Kakashi wondered if she would soon reveal herself to be the devil and then attempt to sell Sakura to him for his SOUL.

"But she never really smelled like she's made a habit out of masturbating." Kakashi mentioned in confusion.

"She usually takes a bath right after. But if you don't believe me…" The cat smiled a Cheshire grin that would put a certain fairy tale cat to shame. "You could go see for yourself."

Now usually when Sakura reached the Tsukino castle Kakashi would leave her to go to her room and he would go to his and either takes care of himself or shower. But now he had other plans.

Lynx looked up from her cleaning to see the dog ninja gone. She gave a disinterested shrug and looked down to see another figure making his way through the forest. _One of the pale faces…Sai?_

Lynx sniffed the air and made a snarling face. _Bleh! He smells like INK! Ugh_. The cat began to make hacking noises in distaste and moved away from him. _He's cute but smells ickyyy…_

Sai briefly glanced curiously at the hacking cat and then shrugged and turned back to his task. "Almost have enough just one more." He mused aloud. He inspected around trees but continued to make slow progress towards the castle.

Then down the path came a certain fox demon container and ex rogue ninja. "RAMEN RAMEN RAMEN!" Naruto chanted excitedly, punching his fists in the air. Sasuke rolled his eyes and continued to try to put space between him and the loud ninja.

Sai glanced up from his tree inspection to speak to Naruto. "Hey Naruto. Tomorrow we don't have to work; can I ask you to do me a favor?" Sai asked the blonde. Naruto and Sasuke stopped walking and turned to the ink user.

"What kind of favor?" asked Naruto suspicious of the man always calling him dickless and other unpleasant names.

Sai smiled one of his innocent yet scary smiles. "It's a secret. But if you do this for me I will pay you back in all my shares of ramen for a month." There was no way Naruto would turn that down.

"RAMEN?! ALRIGHT!"

"What are you doing?" asked Sasuke eyeing Sai suspiciously.

"Nothing a traitorous duck butt head should worry about." Sai said with a good natured face that didn't match his words. Sasuke bristled and proceeded to stomp down the path away from the annoying ink user.

By the time Kakashi had reached the castle Sakura was already taking a bath. But there was no way he could miss the smell in her room. He stepped into the room quietly and took in the scent with deep breaths. Then he noticed a lot of the scent was coming from beneath her bed. Curiously he looked beneath and saw a box. Kakashi pulled it out and imagine his surpise.

_Dildos and bullets and vibrators…Oh my…_ Kakashi had a positively gleeful look on his face. _Sakura is a kinky pervert! That's it…she is definitely my soulmate._ Kakashi thought in amusement. He began to inspect the toys when he heard the water shut off and decided he didn't have much more soaking time to count on Sakura taking so he quickly replaced the box as he found it and went back to his room.

He avoided the sounds of the boys rustling around in the kitchen and got to his room in time to fit in a cold shower before lunch time.

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The boys saw Kakashi come into the dining area with wet hair and his face in a certain book. Icha Icha Tactics. "Why'd you take a bath?" asked Sasuke in annoyance. "Weren't we going to train?"

Kakashi sat on the far end of the table after getting himself a bowl of miso soup and began to eat using his book as a shield from the boys view. "We can still train." Kakashi placated the raven haired boy.

"Oh you guys are training today? Great!" Sakura said coming while toweling her cotton candy locks, a refreshed look that had different connotations to the perverted copy nin than it did the other boys. "Mind if I join you?"

Naruto looked fit to combust with excitement. "Really?? You'll train with us?"

"Yeah well I'm almost done with my research. So I thought it would be a good idea to get back into shape before returning to Konoha so I can start taking missions again." Sakura suggested as she set up her own plate of food.

"What were you researching all this time?" asked Sai.

Sakura sat down in the chair that was still among the boys but closest to Kakashi. "I was researching the events at the Secondary massacre recently but I've been looking into all kinds of things involved with them these past few years."

They began to eat while Sakura talked of the traditions and customs of the Secondary's. Kakashi finished eating and went to do the dishes since the boys had made lunch and Sakura was making dinner.

"By the way, Jinenji-sama wanted me to remind you guys that there is a festival at the end of this month to celebrate the harvest. But if you guys don't want to come he'll understand…" Sakura hedged hopefully.

"HAHAHAHA nice try Sakura-chan! We know you'll be dancing in the festival so we'll definitely be there! BELIEVE IT!" Naruto shouted around a mouthful of ramen. Sakura sighed dejectedly and blushed.

"But I'll be all embarrassed and nervous if you guys are there."

Kakashi was suddenly behind her and leaning down to breath into her ear huskily. "That's the best part." Sakura gasped at the warm breath against her sensitive neck and ears and swung around to hit the pervert who laughed and jumped out of her fists way just in time. She didn't see the glares Sasuke and Naruto were sending Kakashi, Sai was obliviously drawing in the living room.

Suddenly there was an alarm sound ringing softly through the air and Sakura cursed. "Shit! Sorry guys but it looks like one of my research projects needs attention. You guys go train maybe I'll join you tomorrow." Sakura dashed out of the room leaving her food behind. They all looked after her curiously.

"Well let's go train." Kakashi sighed as he made his way towards the courtyard.

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"KAKASHI SENSEIIII YOU SNEAKY BASTARD!" Naruto shouted in frustration when he noticed Kakashi gone. Sasuke and Sai paused in their training to watch Naruto fume.

Kakashi chuckled as he walked through the castle at a slow gate. He made his way down the west wing looking for a certain kunoichi. He passed the point where Sakura had told them not to pass. He paused when he saw something strange in a doorway. It was a camera on a tripod. He looked into the room curious about what it was recording. Inside there were strange figures moving around in a large room that looked like it was the living room for the west wing. Kakashi saw the figures solidify before his eyes and they looked like people who glowed various colors.

A red figure sat at a low table across from a blue figure and they were playing Go. A figure that was a light purple that looked like a child was lying across the couch. Kakashi eyed the red figure curiously; there was something about her…

Then it hit him. She looked exactly like Sakura in the face, she even had Sakura's slightly large forehead. Kakashi's onyx eye widened and he stepped into the room. "Hey who are you?" asked Kakashi, the figures didn't respond to his question but suddenly Kakashi was overwhelmed by swirls of chakra that crashed against his body making him freeze in place. "What the hell…"

Kakashi felt the breath rush out of him and began gasping as he felt his skin tingle and felt his clothes become slightly looser. Then he heard Sakura's scream. "KAKASHI!" He heard a sound like paper being ripped and he was left standing in the room, the glowing figures gone and his lungs hammering for air desperately.

Kakashi looked up to the doorway he'd come through to see Sakura standing there wide eyed, a slip of paper in her hand. Sakura had seen Kakashi enter the room through the camera that was connected to another room. She'd run down the hall and ripped the chakra seals off the doorway that were channeling chakra into the room.

Kakashi blinked at Sakura and wasn't sure what exactly felt different. His clothes were a tad looser than normal and if he didn't know any better he'd say he'd lost an inch or so in height. Sakura's face was rather red and she was waving him to follow her. "Come on and I'll see if I can fix this." Sakura murmured.

"I'm sorry if I broke the room." Kakashi apologized sheepishly, bringing his hand up to scratch the back of his head as he followed her and finding that his hair was a bit shorter than usual…Odd…

Sakura led Kakashi into the living room of the North wing and sat him on the couch. "Ok. Kakashi. Do you remember who I am?" she asked pointing up into her concerned face.

Kakashi was beginning to think something was wrong. "Course I remember you Sakura…"

"Alright, don't freak out but you look younger." Sakura said momentarily leaving for her bathroom to come back with a mirror. Kakashi looked at himself, he looked remarkably the same. His hair was shorter giving him a slightly more boyish look, he was a little shorter and back to the gangly appearance he had at 18.

"Looks like me when I was 18. What an interesting henge jutsu." Kakashi mused, his reaction was the very opposite of freaking out. He even pulled down his mask to inspect the rest of his face. Still the same, though maybe a few less tiny wrinkles around the mouth.

"It's not exactly a henge jutsu. You stepped into a time jutsu I was experimenting with. You actually ARE 18." Sakura stared intently at his face.

Kakashi observed himself in the mirror some more. Then looked up at the flustered cherry blossom who was giving off a delicious scent. Kakashi smirked. "I don't see anything wrong with this."

"It's not permanent though. It should wear off in a few days." Sakura explained meekly. When Kakashi smirked with his mask down it sent shivers down her spine and caused a humming sensation at the apex of her thighs.

Kakashi frowned slightly. "Oh. That's a shame." He mused. "Then I should probably take advantage of this time while I have the chance."

Sakura blinked in confusion. "What--?" Kakashi suddenly reached out and grabbed the cherry blossom, easily maneuvering them so he was on top of her, his pelvis pressed against her core and his torso molding against hers as he pressed hungry kisses to her sweet mouth. She didn't fight him after she got over her shock and returned his passion. Then her over analytical mind made her pause and push him away with chakra infused hands.

"What's wrong?" asked Kakashi huskily, he ran his hands up along her slim arms. He wanted to feel her breasts but he also DIDN'T want to be punched through a wall.

"You…You're only doing this because teenage hormones are affecting your behavior. You've never seen me as more than a student before so…" Sakura scrunched up her eyes and tried to squirm out from under him. "I can't take advantage of you!"

Kakashi chuckled and tightened his grip on her. "Trust me; my hormones were running wild long before. I just thought you might prefer this younger me."

Sakura blinked in surprise and blushed a brighter red. "I think you wouldn't be my Kakashi unless you were your usual 32 year old self."

Kakashi smirked and leaned down to whisper into her ear. "My my Sakura, I had no idea you had an old man fetish. Perhaps you'll let me _teach_ you how to fully utilize those toys under your bed." Kakashi hadn't foreseen his mistake until he was thrown into the opposite wall by a pissed off cherry blossom.

"How did you know about THOSE??" she shouted towering over Kakashi who smiled sheepishly.

"hahaha Oh my look at the time. Gotta go." Kakashi performed the hand signs for a teleportation jutsu and was gone leaving a fuming cherry blossom behind.

Preview for next chapter 5: Sorry about not including the fight with Sasuke and Kakashi that will be next chapter I think. As well we'll see what favor Sai asks Naruto

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	5. Chapter 5: Courting Sakura

**Title: Cherry Blossoms in Fall**

**Pairing(s):** Sakura/Kakashi; Minor: Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Naruto, Sakura/Sai Eventually minor pairings: Naruto/Hinata

**Rating:** M (Lemons, explicit language, and violence)

**Summary:** Sakura was sent on a secret mission for two years not long after the Sasuke recovery team was formed. Since she's been gone, Sasuke came back on his own and team Kakashi was reformed minus Sakura. With information saying that Sakura is KIA what will happen to team Kakashi?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Naruto characters or any other ideas drawn from the series. Nor do I make any profit from the series.

**Recap: **Kakashi has been temporarily turned into a teenager because of one of Sakura's experiments. Sai has asked Naruto for a favor and Lynx has been stirring up trouble.

**Response to Reviewers:** I LOVE reading the reviews. You guys are awesome. Special thanks to Kuarahy who's been following my story and giving constant encouragement. And I'm glad a few of you have said you like Lynx.

Chapter 5: Courting Sakura

"I don't get it…Kakashi is a teenager now?" Naruto squinted in concentration as he stared at Kakashi who was reading his erotica as usual.

Sakura sighed in annoyance. "If you'd let me properly explain Naruto maybe you would understand. MAYBE." She decided to momentarily ignore the blonde and turned towards Sasuke and Sai. The Uchiha was frowning at Kakashi in irritation and jealousy. 'No way he's better looking than me…no way…no way in hell' and as he brooded Sakura proceeded to explain. "I was using a time jutsu to record events from the past that had taken place in this house. However when foreign chakras get into the room the jutsu can cause them to regress backwards in time. Genius over here stepped into it DESPITE MY WARNING YOU NOT TO GO DOWN THAT WING!" Sakura seethed.

"So will he be this way forever?" Sai asked curiously.

"No…it should wear off at least according to the notes in the Tsukino library." Sakura mused as she glanced at Kakashi. "But had he stayed in there much longer he could have regressed back to a fetus and be DEAD!" Sakura scolded the copy nin who smiled up at her without a care in the world. It infuriated her to no end. She rounded on the other boys. "So now that you guys understand the consequences DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT GO IN THERE. GRRR!" Sakura growled in pure fury as she stomped back towards the West Wing to fix the seals on the door.

"I get the feeling Sakura is mad at me." Kakashi said with a hurt expression on his masked face. The other three men face faulted.

"She'll probably be working on that crap for the rest of the night." Sasuke said as he stood up. "I'll make dinner." He proceeded towards the kitchen and Sai seemed to contemplate what he said and had an idea.

Sai turned to Naruto. "Actually dickless, could you help me with that favor tonight after dinner?"

Naruto scowled at the nickname. "Sure, bastard…" the kyuubi container stomped towards the kitchen to help the Uchiha while Kakashi peaked at Sai from behind his book. _A favor hmmm? _

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"Why am I doing this again??" Naruto asked Sai with a panicky and disgusted expression. Sai was now bound to Sakura's bed with bondage ropes, courtesy of a certain reluctant kyuubi container. He was wearing only a small pair of leather Speedos. He was blind folded by a piece of cloth and had a stern frown on his face that did not match his vulnerable position.

"Because I said I'd give you my ramen for a month. Now, next grab that bag on the floor over there." He jerks his head to the side and Naruto picked up the bag wondering what horrors Sai was going to put him through now. "Now spread the caterpillars that are in the bag on top of me and the bed." Sai instructed. Naruto's eyes widened in alarm, he could not even remotely imagine why Sai was having him do these things. "Then you can put that ball gag in my mouth and leave; do not disturb me and Sakura." Sai ordered with the authority vested in him by a month's worth of ramen. Naruto hesitantly did as he asked throwing the living caterpillars on top of Sai.

'Don't disturb him and Sakura? What's going on here?' Naruto thought in confusion. Sasuke and Kakashi walked by just as Naruto was attaching the ball gag. Sasuke stared as if he wasn't sure if he was seeing reality at all. 'Perhaps my sharingan is malfunctioning?' Sasuke wondered.

Kakashi…well…he was trying his damndest not to die from laughing but it seemed it was a losing battle. Sai seemed completely unperturbed by the sound of laughter and confusion from his male teammates and laid bound on the bed silent. Kakashi continued down the hall unable to contain his giggles while Sasuke stuck back to talk to Naruto.

"Uhhh what was that about?" asked the Uchiha male. They walked towards the hot springs for their nightly soak after training.

Naruto shrugs. "Beats me. Must be a Root custom, very disturbing."

"Sakura is going to _kill _him." Sasuke murmured, wincing at the thought of the cherry blossom's wrath.

"He's askin' for it." The kyuubi container said darkly as they walked along the hallway.

A couple hours later a certain pink hair kunoichi could be heard screaming at the top of her lungs. "WHAT THE FUCK?!!!" Far off in Suna Kankuro awoke violently to the sound of a female screaming wondering if Suna was under attack.

"What are you doing Sai?!" Sakura screamed in outrage. She noticed the gag and hesitantly walked over to the ink user, removing the gag while trying hard not to touch the caterpillars. "Ew ew ew ew ew! Ok! Now…what is going on?"

"You may do as you wish with me mistress." Sai recited from Icha Icha Violence. Sakura's eye twitched in annoyance.

"Ok…" Sakura returned the gag to its original place and scowled. "I don't know what's going on but it's obvious you're a part of this so YOU get to sleep with the caterpillars tonight!" Sakura stormed out of her room leaving Sai to wonder what he'd done wrong. Sakura growled as she made her way down the hall, realizing that the spare bedrooms didn't have sheets she stopped at Kakashi's room.

She knocked and after receiving permission to enter walked in to see the copy ninja reading Icha Icha with his mask down and a mischievous grin on his face. "Did you know Sai's lost his little mind?" Sakura asked. Kakashi chuckled and set his book down and turned on his side, giving her a full frontal view of his chest.

"Yes, I'd seen what he and Naruto were doing. I thought it was interesting performance art." The copy ninja said with amusement in his voice. Sakura resisted the urge to melt at his dimpled wide smile.

"Ah so it was him and Naruto. Figures must be some elaborate prank…" Sakura mused. "A very confusing…very disturbing…prank." She trailed off in thought then turned towards Kakashi's closet and tiredly dragged her feet to it. "Sorry to bother you so late at night but this is the only room in the North Wing with spare sheets." Sakura began rummaging through the closet. Kakashi eyed the generous view of her ass that he could see as she bent over.

She wasn't wearing her priestess garb but was wearing black shorts like she did in her genin days but no skirt, and her shirt was a baggy black one but it didn't hide the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra underneath, her breasts bouncing much more freely than usual. Kakashi smiled a creased smile and interrupted her search.

"You look tired, don't bother making up a new bed and just stay here." He said nonchalantly. Sakura froze and stood to gaze at him hesitantly.

_I am awfully tired…_ She eyed the innocent looking copy nin suspiciously. "Okaaaay but no touching. You stay on your side." Kakashi nodded and scooted to the farthest side of the bed from Sakura giving her plenty of space in the king sized bed. Sakura sidled between the sheets and turned to face away from Kakashi who rested facing her. _This isn't inappropriate, I've slept in the same bed as teammates before on missions, totally platonic, totally innocent_ Sakura tried to convince herself. She drifted off to sleep thinking these peaceful thoughts unaware that once she was asleep the copy ninja slid up behind her and lazily through an arm about her.

_I know I shouldn't do this_ Kakashi thought as he stared down at the pink head in front of him. _But I really don't care._ Kakashi smiled peacefully and his eyes drifted closed.

Sakura was awaked early the next morning but a tight grip holding onto her and shifting from the male body behind her. She was two seconds away from screaming at the sleeping Kakashi when she noticed the distressed mumblings he was emitting. She turned in his embrace and saw his face contorted in sadness and fear. It was hard for Sakura to imagine Kakashi being scared of anything.

"Another nightmare?" Sakura's soft murmur to herself seemed to jerk him out of his nightmare and he stared down at her in shock. He reacted about the same way he had the first night he'd woken up. He tightened his grip on her and turned them so he was on top, wanting to secure her beneath him protectively. His face pressed against the smooth column of her neck. "Kakashi?"

He didn't say anything at first and then realizing the position he'd put them in yet again he totally moved away, moving to sit on his side of the bed facing away from her. "Sorry, maybe you should go untie Sai." Kakashi hedged, wanting her to leave so she wouldn't see how upset he was about the nightmare. It had been the same nightmare; he had it so many nights the past month that he began to wonder if it would ever stop.

Sakura wasn't going to have any of that though, she knew he was trying to get her to leave but she wasn't going to let him do that. "You had another nightmare. Was it same one as that one from that time?" asked Sakura.

Kakashi sighed weakly and nodded. He went to pull up his mask but Sakura stopped his hands movements and sat next to him on the edge of the bed, looking at him. "Talk to me. Tell me about your dream."

Kakashi gave her a pained expression and looked away. He was silent for a long time then he turned back to face her with an expression that was all seriousness. Sakura blinked in surprise as he led her to the center of the bed each sitting cross legged facing each other. It kind of reminded Sakura of the days when she and Ino would have sleepovers and they would sit like this to gossip. The mood was not so light and shallow now.

"I've been meaning to tell you this for awhile Sakura." Kakashi said. "I want you to know something about when I was training you guys back when you were genin. I want you to know that it was never about you being weak. I never thought you were weak Sakura."

Sakura thought back to those times, she was sure that everyone had thought she was weak. She was certainly the weakest of team 7. She had always thought that was why Kakashi hadn't taken an interest in her. And some part of her wondered if the interest he was taking in her now was only because she was this special Secondary heritage she'd discovered. She felt tears prickle the edge of her eyes as the abandonment emotions swelled in her chest. She'd thought she'd put those fears behind her the past couple years but now she could see she'd never had closure.

"But I was weak." Sakura insisted and Kakashi noticed the tears coming and emphatically took her hands and shook them.

"No! It is true that you were the weakest of Team 7 at that time. But you were all filled with potential and your potential was apparent to me early on with the tree climbing. Of course I didn't know you were a Secondary and had no reason to think you were but I never thought you were weak or useless or any of those things." He insisted with such sincerity that Sakura was rethinking all of her previous assumptions about Kakashi.

"Then why DID you treat me differently?" Sakura asked, tears were sliding down her face and pooling beneath her chin, dripping down into her lap. She looked closed to sobbing and Kakashi hoped she wouldn't he didn't know if he could handle comforting her if she was so distraught.

Kakashi tried to turn his face away in shame but Sakura squeezed the hands she held in her small ones and he met her teary gaze. "You—you'll hate me once I tell you." He said weakly, almost begging her not to make him say it.

"I don't think I could ever hate you Kakashi." Sakura's voice trembled with her emotions but she looked sternly up at him through her tears.

"The truth is—you know my blood pact with the nin dogs right?" Sakura nodded in recognition. "Well there are effects to that pact that I was warned about when I was given the scroll. You see I had a teammate when I was a genin by the name of Rin. Her family was from a distant branch of the Inuzukas and her branch was given that scroll. When Rin…when she died that branch no longer had an heir to pass the scroll to but they weren't on good terms with the main branch so they gave me the scroll." Kakashi revealed, Sakura blinked in surprise but she still didn't understand what that had to do with anything.

Rin's family warned me that my senses would be heightened senses and that whenever I'm with a female I could be at risk for developing an healthy attraction to them if their scent appeals to me. The effect diminishes greatly once I'm mated but I've never before been especially attracted to anyone in that sense. Besides you…"

He gave Sakura a chance to catch up mentally while he took that moment to inhale her scent deeply. Her strawberry scent was laced with the scent of sadness and her face was confused.

"So…you were attracted to me even when I was 12?" Sakura asked hesitantly. Kakashi's eye widened.

"Oh! No! I didn't start becoming attracted to your scent until you stopped wearing so much perfume. I couldn't smell your natural scent for a long time but I was always worried about if I did ever catch your natural scent that it would be trouble. I could never know for sure who I wouldn't or would be attracted to. So I tried my best to distance myself from you…and I ended up neglecting your training. And when you stopped wearing the perfume I knew I was attracted to you, you were so young back then so I decided to remove myself completely from your life."

"Hence not seeing you at all after Sasuke defected and Naruto left. I stopped focusing on my appearance and focused on my medical training." Sakura said in understanding. "So you've been attracted to me for a long time?" at his hesitant nod she smiled affectionately. "I thought only Naruto and Lee were the only ones that liked me back then. Or…was it just an attraction to my scent?"

"Back then it was mostly just the scent, I thought you were very cute and you still are but now…" he paused his eyes sliding along her form in appraisal. "You're beautiful." His naturally husky tone combined with the words he was saying had Sakura's face burning a bright red.

Kakashi was still in his youthful teenage body and it was reacting to the intimate situation. His heart was pounding but there was no indication he was being affected besides a light pink tint to his cheeks. He was momentarily distracted by where their hands were connected. Her small hands rested in his, her hands were cool and smooth; he started drawing vague circles with his thumbs against the top of her hands.

Sakura was mesmerized by his face again; his shorter hair gave him a more youthful boyish look that intrigued her. Kakashi's youth was so mysterious…heck…Kakashi, period, was mysterious to team 7. But he was reaching out and telling her things, complimenting her, giving her a look at how he was feeling. Sakura was a little overwhelmed by her desire to feel the lips of this man against hers.

"You're beautiful too!" Sakura blurted and quickly realized her mistake and blushed in embarrassment. Kakashi chuckled and brought her hands up so he could brush his lips against her knuckles, his warm breath heating the cool skin there.

"Thank you Sakura." He said huskily against her hands, Sakura's eyes stared in wonder at the movement of his lips. 'They feel soft…' she thought curiously.

"Umm…I…" Sakura began nervously. It'd been so long since she'd done this, not since before Sasuke left Konoha. "Kakashi…would you like to be my date for the festival?" Sakura asked with soft hope in her voice.

Kakashi grinned. "I'd like that…" Sakura was wondering if her heart was going to explode, it sure felt like it would.

"Awesome! I mean…thanks…urh…ahhh!" Sakura growled in frustration. "Stop looking at me with that face!"

Kakashi chuckled and leaned in closer to Sakura. "Does my face get you all flustered Sakura-chan?" he practically purred! Sakura shivered and then released her hands from Kakashi's.

"Anyways! It's still really early." Sakura mumbled, glancing outside to see that dawn had not yet come yet. Kakashi leaned back lazily and observed Sakura through his half lidded onyx eye.

"Well I'm not tired so we could…" Kakashi hinted. 'Is it too early for that? Nawww she asked me out so we are dating right?' Kakashi sighed quietly. 'This relationship stuff sure is unnecessarily complicated.'

"Yeah! I'm not tired either! Let's go!" Sakura said excitedly.

Kakashi blinked in surprise, she sure was eager…._naughty girl…._Kakashi's mind was running wild with the things he could do to the cherry blossom. So imagine his surprise when she began tugging him off the bed by the arm. "Umm what are you doing?" asked Kakashi, not wanting to break the mood but he had no idea why they couldn't do it on the bed…

Sakura gave him a look like he was obviously slow. "We're going out aren't we? I wanted to introduce you to someone." Sakura explained. She went to Kakashi's closet and looked around for a spare kimono. She went to the bathroom to change while Kakashi ruminated on the bed.

"I knew it was too good to be true." He sighed. He heard Sakura turn the shower on and he smirked. "But I'm still miles ahead of the boys." He got up and began to get dressed in a haori, leaving on his black pants.

About a half hour later Sakura came out of the bathroom looking refreshed. "Ok let's go!" Sakura led Kakashi out of the Tsukino estate, being careful not to wake up the boys.

"So who are we going to meet?" asked Kakashi.

Sakura smiled. "It's a surprise. But I'll tell you a little bit. On the other side of these woods there's a burial ground for the Secondary's. It's where the villagers buried them. The guy I'm introducing you to maintains the area. He and his wife used to be ninja but they helped the Secondary massacre, they've regretted it ever since so he maintains the graveyard." Sakura explained.

Kakashi thought for a moment as they walked. "What happened to his wife?"

Sakura frowned sadly. "She committed suicide because of the shame."

"What did she do that was so shameful? If she was a ninja she was just following orders." Kakashi reasoned.

"Yeah but the thing is that they were in charge of watching the prisoners and then executing them. So they'd spent a lot of time with different families who had children who begged for their lives. They themselves had a son too so it was hard for them." Sakura explained as they came out of the forest and Kakashi stared in amazement as the huge rolling hills with the wooden markers sticking out of the ground. The field of graves rolled all the way into the distance, thousands of dead people lay buried before them.

Sakura pointed to their right to a small hut like house where a man stood carving into slabs of stone. They approached him and Kakashi saw a grave marked to the side apart from the Secondary graves. It had the words "Maito Mitsuki…Loving wife…Loving mother," written on it along with a date that Kakashi noted was only a year after the massacre.

The man looked up and Kakashi was struck with a feeling of familiarity. He was an older gentleman with mostly gray hair but still some jet black youthful strands. His hair had an unusual shine to it but it was not nearly as distracting as his eyebrows which were huge, black, and box shaped. Definitely familiar.

"Good morning Maito-san." Sakura greeted politely, bending down to watch his progress on the slab of stone.

_Maito-san? Is this man related to Gai? Must be…_ Kakashi mused as he studied the man's face. The man glanced nervously at Kakashi and then looked back to Sakura with a weak smile that did not suit a member of the Maito family.

"Good morning Sakura-hime! I'm on the 137th one." He said nodding down to the stone and then proceeding to go back to work on it.

Sakura leaned towards Kakashi. "He's been replacing the wooden markers with stone ones." She whispered.

"Are you…Maito Kenta?" Kakashi asked, remembering Gai's father's name from talk around the village. The man grunted in his affirmative but didn't spare Kakashi a glance.

"And if YOU are here to take me back to the village you can tell the Third that I will never do HIS dirty work again so he can forget it!" He growled as he chiseled. Sakura got a sympathetic look and crouched down next to the man.

"He isn't here to bring you back but he's friends with Gai." Sakura explained.

Maito-san looked up sharply and looked to Kakashi. "Gai? Is he ok?" he asked urgently.

Kakashi nodded dumbly. "Yeah…he's doing well."

"Has he…" the man got a pained expression. "joined ANBU?"

"No. He's been training genin teams for a few years now."

Maito-san looked relieved. "Well that's better than being a murdering tool I guess." He went back to work while Sakura led Kakashi away.

Once they were making their way back through the woods Sakura looked up at Kakashi. Though he wore a mask she could see the struggle in his expressions. "I'd heard Gai's parents had retired from being ninja and left the village but I had no idea why…"

"They were the natural choice for helping in the massacre; both his parents were taijutsu experts." Sakura explained.

"And his mother committed suicide…he must have been around 15 at the time." Kakashi mused.

Sakura gave Kakashi a sympathetic smile. "Maybe that's why he always saw you as kind of a rival. You both lost parents that way and for Gai being your rival might have been a way of being friends with you without revealing what truly happened to his family."

Kakashi smiled. I'd always wondered why Gai had such an obsession about youth and justice. Perhaps that was why, he'd seen the miserable states his parents were in and wanted to stand for something different. Whereas I grew unresponsive to the world after my father died, I guess he saw my suffering and identified with me. His weird challenges might actually be forms of comfort…

"How did you know about my father?" asked Kakashi looking down at Sakura.

"Maito-san let it slip once." Sakura murmured. "I'm sorry if you didn't want me to know."

Kakashi shook his head. "No it's ok…"

They walked in companionable silence for a little bit but they were interrupted by the arrival of their three teammates. Naruto, Sai, and Sasuke were running towards them, making Sakura worry that something was wrong.

Kakashi lazily observed the younger males. Though he was currently the same age as them he still had the maturity of his years. Whereas Sakura was worried something was wrong Kakashi immediately analyzed the situation. He still couldn't sense any foreign ninja nearby and none of the boys looked like they'd been engaged in battle. But he could sense the fighting auras coming off them.

Sai was giving him a particularly vicious glare; he'd obviously been untied and removed the centipedes. Sakura stepped towards them. "Did something happen?" she asked.

Sasuke nodded back towards the estate. "Jinenji was here looking for you. We went to your room and saw Sai still tied up. When we couldn't find you or…Kakashi…we got worried." He was giving Kakashi a sharp look.

Sakura nodded and ran past the three men and towards the estate, hoping to still catch Jinenji. Left alone with the glaring males Kakashi gave them a friendly eye crease and a raised hand. "Yo!"

There was a tense silence. Kakashi watched as Sasuke continued to stand straight ahead of him while Naruto and Sai slowly stalked in a circular path on his left and right, respectively. They were surrounding him, and they looked ready to fight. Kakashi observed them lackadaisically the smile slipping from his face into a serious line. "How'd you boys find us?" he asked, resisting the urge to put emphasis on the word "boys" knowing it might piss them off.

"The dobe followed your scents. It's strange; he said it smelled like Sakura slept in your room." Sasuke said critically.

Kakashi couldn't resist the smug grin that spread across his face. "That's because she DID spend the night in my room." He said lazily tilting his head to glance at Sai.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. "Cut the crap Kakashi. You're going to ruin Sakura. Do you really think Konoha will let you two be together?"

"Whether or not we are together is up to Sakura."

"They will determine that it is a matter of village security that Sakura marry into a prominent family, a clan. Not be the fuck buddy for some old pervert." Sasuke growled.

"Sakura should be with the one she loves." Kakashi had never thought such sappy words would come out of his mouth, but he'd also never thought that he'd be in a relationship. "And if that's me…well you'll just have to deal with it."

"Sakura loves you…?" Naruto said in surprise, his fighting resolve dissipating before their eyes. Then his eyes burned back into a rage. "Why you? Why that damn teme?? Why was it never me?!" Naruto charged at Kakashi who dodged warily. Naruto continued to engage in taijutsu. Kakashi passively dodged his moves, not wanting to respond to his rage because he sympathized. He knew the boy loved the pink haired kunoichi.

"Don't get all upset Naruto. Sakura doesn't love that pervert. He is just confusing her is all. She'll realize who she has always belonged to soon enough." Sasuke smirked when Kakashi dodged around the punching Naruto and came at Sasuke with his own taijutsu skills. Sasuke blocked and began to return the punches. Sai jumped into the fray and soon Kakashi found himself having to mostly flee from the three men as they tore through the forest in battle.

Back at the estate Sakura found Jinenji waiting at the entrance hall with a large box in his arms. "There you are Sakura-hime! I brought your dress for the festival dance. Hope you've been practicing, don't want to trip like last year." He laughed boomingly but it was drowned out by the sound of trees collapsing in the forest. "What was that?"

Sakura took the dressed and set it somewhere safe. She looked back towards the forest and gave Jinenji a strained smile. "I think my teammates are training is all. You have a good day Jinenji-sama." Sakura dashed back towards the forest, she didn't sense any foreign ninja in the area.

Back with the battle Sasuke and Kakashi were resorting to ninjutsu while Sai and Naruto tried to pin down Kakashi from escaping. Then just as Kakashi turned to Sasuke to begin a water jutsu to counter his fire ball jutsu one of Sai's ink creatures stabbed him through the chest. Everyone suddenly froze in horrified awe. They'd laid a hit on Kakashi and it was a possibly fatal one.

Sai had his ink monsters retreat and Naruto gaped open mouthed as Kakashi slowly reached up to feel the wound. Sasuke didn't fault though in his fireball jutsu allowing it to continue on its path towards Kakashi. Sakura burst through the trees and tackled Kakashi out of the way of the attack.

Kakashi lay beneath the cherry blossom, groaning in pain as his wound wept blood in generous amounts on the ground and onto Sakura's kimono. "What are you guys doing?!" Sakura shouted as she immediately began working on healing Kakashi's wound. As she analyzed the damage tears welled in the corners of her eyes. She ignored the fact that Sasuke's jutsu had severely burned her leg, burning a gaping hole in the bottom of her kimono.

Sai and Naruto stared in silent horror. Sasuke approached Sakura and removed his haori, he draped it over Sakura's exposed legs while she focused on Kakashi. "We were just training." Sasuke said nonchalantly.

"Three on one?" Sakura roared. She shot acidic glares towards Sai and Naruto. Naruto winced and looked away ashamed. Once Sakura got Kakashi stable she helped him stand up and waved over Sai, ignoring Sasuke's attempt to help her. She insisted that Sai help her take Kakashi to the estate. Sai quietly obliged not wanting her wrath on him as well because it was sure to come once she found it was his ink creations that had stabbed Kakashi.

Sakura got Kakashi settled into his bed and bandaged up. She healed the punctures in his lungs but thought it would be best to let his body respond to the injury and start healing himself before she stepped in to assist it. She gave him some pain relief and helped him fall asleep with a soothing forehead massage using healing chakra.

The three stooges sat in the living room waiting for Sakura to come back and tell them how Kakashi was. Sakura came in compulsively scrubbing the blood off her hands with a rag. She glared at the three and went to the kitchen to use the sink.

They listened to her wash her hands and then grasp the edge of the sink with a powerful grip as if she were seconds away from attacking the three men who watched her from their places in the living room. "Why would you guys do that?" she asked with a calmness that betrayed how strongly she was trying to keep control over her emotions.

Sai decided it would be best to turn the tables onto Kakashi. "Kakashi told me that courting involved Icha Icha and caterpillars."

"So you STAB HIM?!" Sakura exploded making the three men flinch.

"Sakura may I speak to you in private?" asked Sasuke and Naruto looked at him terrified.

"Are you crazy? You can't be alone with her! There won't be any witnesses!!" Naruto shouted. Sasuke rolled his eyes incredulously where as Sai was nodding in agreement with Naruto.

Sakura took a deep breath to calm herself. "Fine." She stomped out of the room and Sasuke followed.

"Are you going to tell me why you guys attacked Kakashi?" Sakura asked once she and Sasuke were walking through the garden.

"Kakashi claimed that you belonged to him. But that's not true is it Sakura?" Sasuke asked calmly.

"Kakashi said that?" Sakura frowned. She suddenly felt the warmth of someone pressed against her back and Sasuke's warm breath on her neck.

"It's not true because you still love me…" Sasuke slipped his strong arms around her waist and pulled her close. Sakura's breath hitched and she felt the familiar warmth of feelings for Sasuke washing over her. She hadn't felt this way about her first love in so long. But it still wasn't like with Kakashi, Kakashi made her melt with just his voice and smile. "Marry me Sakura." Sasuke breathed against the shell of her ear. Sakura's jaw dropped and she felt her heart stop.

Preview: Find out Sakura's answer and what happens at the festival.


	6. Chapter 6: The Festival

**Title: Cherry Blossoms in Fall**

**Pairing(s):** Sakura/Kakashi; Minor: Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Naruto, Sakura/Sai Eventually minor pairings: Naruto/Hinata

**Rating:** M (Lemons, explicit language, and violence)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Naruto characters or any other ideas drawn from the series. Nor do I make any profit from the series.

**Recap: **Kakashi has been temporarily turned into a teenager because of one of Sakura's experiments. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai attacked Kakashi and were able to stab him; he is now in Sakura's care.

"_Are you going to tell me why you guys attacked Kakashi?" Sakura asked once she and Sasuke were walking through the garden. _

"_Kakashi claimed that you belonged to him. But that's not true is it Sakura?" Sasuke asked calmly. _

"_Kakashi said that?" Sakura frowned. She suddenly felt the warmth of someone pressed against her back and Sasuke's warm breath on her neck. _

"_It's not true because you still love me…" Sasuke slipped his strong arms around her waist and pulled her close. Sakura's breath hitched and she felt the familiar warmth of feelings for Sasuke washing over her. She hadn't felt this way about her first love in so long. But it still wasn't like with Kakashi, Kakashi made her melt with just his voice and smile. "Marry me Sakura." Sasuke breathed against the shell of her ear. Sakura's jaw dropped and she felt her heart stop. _

Chapter 6: The Festival

Sakura forced Sasuke's arms from around her once she'd regained her wits. She stepped away and turned to glare at the Uchiha. "Why are you asking me this now Sasuke?" Sakura asked incredulously.

Sasuke blinked slowly and shrugged. "We've been apart for about 7 years now—."

"8 years actually." Sakura sniped in, glare hardening more. Sasuke smirked.

"See I knew you missed me."

"Of course I missed you, you were part of my first team and you just left us." The pain from that experience bled into her angry features making her soften.

"Well now that I'm back I've realized we are perfect for each other." Sasuke said plainly, almost wishing she'd go back to being angry so he wouldn't have to deal with the heart clenching sad face she was making.

Sakura looked up at Sasuke with confusion. "What makes you say that?"

"We are perfect! We are both without our clans and need to revive them. We're both powerful and attractive. It would be insane if we DIDN'T get married." Sasuke said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That's why you want to marry me?" Sakura asked in amazement. "Because of our clans?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Is that not enough of a reason? The elders in the village will want you to marry someone from a clan. There is no hope for you and Kakashi. You shouldn't even consider it…" Sasuke stepped closer to her about to take her into a hug. "He's beneath you anyway."

Sakura's face twisted in disgust and she stepped back from Sasuke further increasing the space between them. "I hear what you're saying about the elders. And I wouldn't want to get Kakashi involved in that mess; they could destroy him in their efforts to make sure I marry into a clan. But I won't be marrying you. I will marry someone I love no matter what the elders say and I doubt I can ever love you like that again."

Sasuke scowled. "So you're saying you will give up on Kakashi but you won't consider my request because I spoke the truth? The ninja from clans are better than the average ninja that's just the way things are—." Sakura slapped Sasuke.

"That is not true! Naruto may be loud and obnoxious at times but he is a thousand times the shinobi you are. And Kakashi may be bed ridden because of a stab wound from fighting men 14 years younger than him but it still took THREE of you jerks to take him down. So stop speaking so high and mighty about the great Uchiha clan because it doesn't exist anymore. By shinobi law a clan can only be formed from a family of 6 with the approval of the elders. You are not part of the Uchiha clan because there isn't one." Sakura walked away from the flabbergasted Uchiha. "So stuff that in your pipe and smoke it you brat!" Sakura fumed as she walked back into the castle.

Sasuke stood in the garden awhile longer considering what she'd said. She was right about clans. Technically speaking the elders don't have to even consider him as a possible husband for Sakura. He'd always thought that Sakura would just be waiting for him, waiting to beg him to come back. But now she was looking to a man much older than himself and his trump card…the elder's wishes…they didn't apply to him anyway. He would have to win Sakura back if he were to have her and then overcome the resistance from the elders. "She probably hates me now…" he mused aloud.

"No Sakura can't hate you teme. She's just pissed about what we did to Kakashi." Naruto spoke up from the castle porch. He had his arms crossed and was looking down at Sasuke.

"Did you hear all of that?"

"Yeah." Naruto said gruffly. He was pissed about what he heard Sasuke say about clan nins vs. average ninja but Sakura's response made up for it. "Sakura wasn't raised by her clan though, she doesn't think like you do." When Sasuke didn't care to respond Naruto continued to talk. "So she pretty much said she would give up on Kakashi…that's good at least." Naruto grinned and Sasuke scoffed.

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Kakashi groaned and opened his single onyx eye to look about the room. He was back in his bedroom at the Tsukino castle. Sakura sat beside him and was tending to his wound. He didn't feel any pain but he was immediately concerned by the pained look on Sakura's face. "You ok Sakura?" he murmured. Sakura jumped in surprise seeing him awake and quickly forced a smile.

"Yes I'm fine."

Kakashi frowned, smelling what was out of place. "Care to explain why you smell like Sasuke?"

Sakura winced and Kakashi was immediately assuming the worse…_Well she still smells like a virgin and there is no arousal…if he tried to force her…_ Kakashi's mind ran away with him with all of the bad things he'd do to the unsuspecting Uchiha. "Sasuke and I had a talk. He got a bit too touchy." Sakura explained, not noticing Kakashi's fists clenched.

"What did you two talk about?"

"Kakashi if we started…this…" Sakura gestured vaguely between them. "It could only last until we return to Konoha. Tsunade has been writing to me telling me that the elders are interested in arranging a marriage for me with a clan. I can refuse for awhile but eventually they will try to pressure us to break up. I don't want you to go through that."

Kakashi watched Sakura and listened to what she said. "I'm tougher than that Sakura…"

"But you've worked all these years to be a ninja above reproach!" Sakura insisted, taking Kakashi's hand and squeezing it. "They will slander your name, maybe even court marshal you for the tiniest things until you finally give up." Kakashi pondered her points; he wouldn't put such behavior past the elders either.

Kakashi squeezed her hand back and sat up and faced Sakura. Sakura fussed for a second over his wound but Kakashi interrupted her. "You are right that a brand new relationship wouldn't last long under those circumstances. So maybe we should keep it a secret for awhile?" Kakashi suggested with a happy eye crease. Sakura blinked in surprise.

"Keep it a secret? From a NINJA village?" Sakura asked incredulously.

Kakashi chuckled. "I've kept my face a secret for almost my entire life. The only people alive who've seen it are you, the ramen stand people, and Genma, and Genma cheated because he got me off my ass drunk. The pervert…" Kakashi shuddered in mock fear of handsome brown haired perverts demasking him and Sakura giggled.

"It could work…" Sakura mused. "Sounds down right exciting actually." Sakura near gushed at the romanticness of it and Kakashi chuckled at the sight of the young Sakura he remembered shining through.

"Though…the fact that everything with a dick seems to be chasing after you is kind of annoying. It will be a pain not being able to stake my claim." Kakashi mused. Sakura giggled and her face flushed pink.

"Well you'll just have to trust me!"

"Hmm…and you'll just have to trust me when I go out drinking with the guys…and Anko…" Kakashi smirked when Sakura immediately scowled, he could almost see the inner rantings going on in Sakura's head. "I bet it would be easier to trust each other if we could still touch each other like a couple…" Kakashi mused reaching out and stroking Sakura's cheek.

"We can't in public, people will get suspicious!"

"Are you kidding? I can eat ramen in public without anyone seeing my face I bet I could grope you all over in public and no one would be the wiser." Kakashi laughed at the crimson blush that stained the pinkette's cheeks. Kakashi's face softened and he pulled down his mask to give Sakura a melting smile. "How about a kiss?" Sakura smiled and leaned in.

Kakashi slipped one large hand behind her neck and he craned up to kiss the cherry blossom. First just a small brush of lips and then a more passionate kiss developed.

Kakashi smirked when he felt Sakura impatiently lick his lips for more and he opened his mouth to attack her tongue with his own, surprising Sakura immensely. Sakura squeaked in the kiss and giggled when the copy ninja pulled her down onto the bed and rolled on top of her.

They leisurely explored each other's mouths, Sakura was intrigued by the fang like canines that she felt in his mouth and his tongue felt a tiny bit longer than it should be for a human. Kakashi was overwhelmed by the vanilla and strawberry smell that was permeating the room. Sakura's soft pink tongue exploring his mouth had his blood roaring in his ears.

Kakashi pressed the growing excitement in his pants into her pelvis and Sakura gasped into the kiss. Kakashi pulled away and chuckled at the dazed and somewhat shocked look on the girl's face. He licked his lips and smirked down at her, flashing a fang and Sakura felt her body hum in arousal. Kakashi leaned down and nuzzled her neck. "If we're going to keep this a secret you'll need to start using a lot of body wash so Naruto won't notice my smell on you." Kakashi said huskily against her skin. Sakura nodded dumbly, her mind still trying to catch up with the current events.

"I smell dinner you should take a bath and I'll take a shower." Kakashi said as he climbed off of her and after giving her a quick kiss went to his bathroom. Sakura shakily stood on wobbly feet and made her way back to her room, being careful to avoid Naruto.

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Sai and Naruto made dinner as an apology to Kakashi; they made his favorite miso soup. They sat at a low Japanese style table, Sai Sakura and Kakashi on one side and Sasuke and Naruto on the other. They were all tense at first but Kakashi broke the tension by commenting on Naruto's pathetic taijutsu skills which immediately caused the blond to burst out into loud promotion of his "awesome ninja skills!" Sakura laughed and Sai smirked. Sasuke lightly insulted Naruto's modesty and the dobe and teme were in a full out argument. Sasuke was comically impassive while fighting the loud energetic Naruto.

Sakura laughed and jumped into the Naruto bashing at times but she was momentarily distracted by the fact that Kakashi was eating in front of them but they couldn't see it. She stared in amazement as the bowl got lighter but no sign of his face was seen.

Kakashi noticed her staring and sent her a wink which couldn't be seen because one eye was always covered but Sakura still caught it. Sakura's eyes widened when she felt the shortest but still strong touch brush her back side. It was distinctly a hand but as fast as she felt it the touch was gone. Her jaw dropped. Kakashi had just felt her up RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE BOYS.

She could see his silent chuckling and was even more shocked when she felt two hands tweak a nipple immediately exciting the young woman. She squeezed her thighs together and shot the copy ninja a warning glare. Kakashi subtly nodded around towards their oblivious audience and it was clear what he was saying. "Told ya so, Sakura *insert smug smirk here*." Sakura thought back to their earlier conversation. _"I bet I could grope you all over in public and no one would be the wiser."_

Sakura gritted her teeth and resigned her self to a dinner where she'd be constantly distracted by Kakashi's touching. Sakura tried to school her face back to impassiveness but it was proving difficult. Sasuke at one point spared them a brief suspicious look but upon being unable to see Kakashi doing anything wrong he went back to listening to one of Naruto's bragging stories about being trained by Jiraya.

Kakashi's plates were empty and it now appeared as if he was just listening to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai but Sakura knew better. _I'm going to KILL him! This isn't faaaairrr~~_ Sakura squirmed as Kakashi's brief touches were traveling up her inner thighs, she'd tried clamping her legs shut but he'd some how get his hand between them. Sakura's face and neck were heating up and the boys were beginning to notice making Kakashi retreat his touches.

"Are you okay Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto.

"I'm feeling a bit off. I think I'll go to bed." Sakura stood shakily and left the room. The boys looked after her concerned but then immediately went back to their conversations. Kakashi continued to pretend to listen but his thoughts were on a certain pink haired kunoichi.

A week passed by and Kakashi and Sakura were able to keep their budding relationship from their teammates. Sakura insisted that Kakashi was having far too much fun keeping everything secret, he'd grab her from around corners and kiss her senseless then allow her to walk off with Naruto babbling obliviously, her lips swollen and face flushed. They'd not progressed their relationship beyond touching and kissing but neither seemed in a hurry to rush.

At night once the boys were asleep Kakashi would make his way to the West Wing and join Sakura in the library. They'd make light conversation while she did research, Kakashi would occasionally skim some of the texts finding them interesting but they were mostly just volumes with techniques for Secondary powers.

One day Kakashi asked something that got Sakura thinking about their relationship much more seriously. "Would our children have your powers?" he asked as he flipped through a book that focused on training young children to control their Secondary powers.

Sakura dropped her pen for a minute then blinked owlishly at Kakashi. Her mind was immediately over run with little silver haired children with green eyes and Kakashi's mask. Sakura smiled fondly at the thought, she could definitely picture it and it wasn't a bad picture at all. "Yes they'd all have my powers because it's something all descendents of the Secondary's inherit. I'm not sure if it will always be present in my descendents but my immediate family will definitely have it."

"Will they have your pink hair too?" Kakashi asked in amusement, Sakura had shown him a picture of her biological parents. Pink hair apparently ran strong in the Tsukino clan.

"Well it depends on how our genes interact. Most of the males from my family had pink hair but it had a grayish look to it, so it didn't look that girly. Pink hair is not a dominate feature usually, they might all have your hair." Sakura mused eyeing Kakashi's silver.

Kakashi smiled. "I got my father's hair but my mother had black hair."

"So did my grandpa! They might have black hair! And if they get your eyes they'd look like Sasuke!" Sakura laughed at the thought of what the villagers would say, Kakashi shook his had at the silly woman and continued to scan through the book in his lap.

"I hope they all have your eyes…" he mumbled softly, but Sakura heard and she smiled at the copy ninja.

"It's a toss up with the eyes; blue eyes ran strong in my family before my grandfather married into it." Sakura mused as she eyed a family picture that she kept on her desk. The Tsukino family picture was a sea of pink hair and blue eyes except for a small branch of it that had some black and pink and greens.

Kakashi noticed Sakura's eyes get misty as she stared into the still faces of the family she'd never known. "Do you want a family Kakashi?"

"Yes." He didn't hesitate or temper his answer at all; this reassured Sakura because she'd been thinking about how long they could last.

"How many children would you want?"

Kakashi's mask was pulled down like he usually had it when it was just him and his cherry blossom. He smiled warmly. "As many as you will give me." He reached across they table and they held hands. "I know things are still unsure, we don't know what Konoha will say, but I'm serious about us koibito." He said softly as if he were sharing a secret between them, as if prying ears would violate their special moment.

Sakura felt her heart flutter. She could now say without a doubt she was in love with Hatake Kakashi. But now she had to think of how she was going to be able to keep him. She didn't want the elders to hurt him because of her but she didn't want to lose him either.

Kakashi could read what was bothering her immediately. "We'll worry about that when the time comes ok?" He released her hands and went back to reading through the book.

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The day of the festival came and the guys found themselves separated from their cherry blossom teammate. The festival stands were set up around a large lake that bordered against the Secondary graveyard on one side. Maito Kenta took a reprieve from his hermit behavior to help the townsmen set up the poles for the paper lanterns. There were already many toris set up around the lake because many of the Secondary mansions bordered the lake. The vendors were some of the town's people but were mostly from the villages that existed beyond the huge forest that surrounded the Flower village.

Travelers were encouraged to stay in the country for this festival which was a special festival that was kept alive by the Flower villagers. The festival's history goes back to the times of the Secondary's who held the festival to not only celebrate the harvest but also celebrate the contract between the Secondary's and Primary's. Demons and spirits gathered to amicably coexist with the Secondary's back then and mingle with other humans as well. Civilians were able to interact with the demons in a peaceful setting. There were many dances held by the Primary's and Secondary's to celebrate their union but now there was only one Secondary to participate.

The villagers had to be careful not to advertise the fact that there would be a Secondary dancer. And thanks to a jutsu created by the forest demons once the travelers passed through the forest the next day they would forget all about meeting a Secondary woman. This was a technique developed by the demons wanting to protect the last Secondary but also wanting to continue the tradition of the festival which had been diminished by the loss of the Secondary's.

There was an excited murmur from the vendors who had received word that there was going to be a special dance, though almost all the vendors had been to last years festival and seen Sakura dance then they did not remember it because of the forest's spell.

Team 7 minus Sakura assisted in the decorating and was amazed at the appearance of the place at night with the lanterns lit. Right after sundown was when the dancing began. So far the dancing consisted of village women and demons of the forest. The dancing women danced the traditional dances of the Secondary's minus the powerful element manipulation that was part of the dance. Even though it was December their dancing dresses were somewhat revealing, the weather within the village was being heated up by the Primary's in the forest to give it an early fall cool feeling to the area without being too cold.

"Back in the day their dances would be an overwhelming show of fire and water! You'll get to see Sakura-hime dance that way tonight." Jinenji said to the four men as they walked through the crowds.

"You got to see the festivals back then?" Sai asked.

"Oh yes the people of the Flower village have a special bond with the Secondary's because before they formed their contract with the Primary's they were part of our village in Snow Country. After they'd migrated here and achieved enlightenment they'd formed their contract but we would always migrate to visit their festivals. They were amazing…a very peaceful people."

"What if there are ninja here…" Kakashi mused as he eyed the strangers that had traveled through the forest for the festival.

"There aren't any. The Primary's in the forest right now analyze all of the newcomers and if any of them have chakra signatures they put them under a genjutsu that has them thinking they have very important business to get to at their village and they turn around immediately and leave on their own."

"The big guy is right." Said a voice at their feet. The five men turned to stare down at Lynx who sat in their path. Naruto pointed at the cat in shock.

"THAT CAT JUST TALKED!"

Lynx rolled her green eyes and gave Naruto a flat look. "Aren't foxes supposed to be clever? And to think I'm related to your kind…" Lynx languidly jumped up onto Kakashi's shoulder who smiled at her. She sat on his right shoulder and curled her tail around over his left.

"This is Lynx she's the cat demon that saved Sakura-hime almost two months back." Explained Jinenji. Naruto proceeded to shout at the cat about his intelligence but she pretended to not hear.

Suddenly there was a commotion of cheering and shouting. Intrigued the five men and cat moved through the crowd to see what they were seeing, there on the water were figures of light dancing on the water. Kakashi realized they were the figures he'd seen in the West Wing restricted area.

"What is this?" wondered Jinenji in amazement.

"So this isn't part of the festival?" asked Sasuke.

"No…How is this happening, do you know?" Jinenji asked a man in the crowd who cheered on the dancing figures of light. He shrugged but the man standing in front of him turned around and shouted over the cheering.

"A woman dressed as a dancer walked out onto the water and put some poles in the water. See those?" He pointed out to the edges of where the lights were dancing and there were poles sticking out of the water with clips on top that held up paper sutras. The sutras were glowing.

"Must have been Sakura-hime." Jinenji murmured.

"It's a time jutsu Sakura was working on. It's recreating a scene during a past festival it looks like." Kakashi explained. Jinenji looked overjoyed and began to make his way through the crowd to get a better look. Kakashi was slowly returning to his previous age over the past week. He'd estimate he was probably back to the age he was when he trained his first genin team.

"The same jutsu you stepped into?" Sasuke asked.

"That'd be the one…" Suddenly they were approached by Jin, the man who worked at the shrine with Sakura.

"Good evening. Sakura's performance will be beginning soon." Jin informed them but his help was immediately made pointless by Jinenji announcing in a booming voice that Sakura would be dancing a ways down along the lake. The crowd began to move and Team 7 approached the stands that were set up along the shore of the lake and sat down on the front row by Jinenji and Jin.

Off to the side were a band of musicians. A myriad of guitars and flutes and drums began to play but the drums over powered the other instruments with a harsh pounding that set an almost sensual beat.

Jin glanced around wondering when Sakura would appear then his eyes fell on Lynz and he scowled. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Sakura?" Lynx blinked lazily then her eyes widened.

"DAMN! Forgot!" The cat jumped down from Kakashi's shoulder. The human men watched in amazement as Lynx began to transform. Her hair shortening and lightening to the point of being invisible, her body structure grew and morphed into a human-esque shape until finally she stood before the group in a human form. She still had her green cat eyes and large black cat ears on top of her head, but her body was in the shape of a tall teenaged man with tanned skin. Her hair was long and flowing down to her lower back. She looked like a very attractive young man with cat ears. Kakashi noted the tail that swished lazily behind the man and he got a very Lynx like bored expression as he examined his hands.

"I thought you were a female cat…" Kakashi wondered.

"I am, this is just for the dance." Lynx jumped off towards the shore off to the side and was heading towards the graveyard.

Jin turned to explain to Sakura's shocked teammates. "Sakura's dance is the highlight of the festival; it illustrates the formation of the contract. It also is supposed to illustrate yin and yang and the balances of nature. Man, female, fire, water, Primary, Secondary, so on…" Suddenly there was a hush as the tempo of the music picked up, the dance was beginning.

Sakura made an entrance wearing an elaborate formal kimono. It seemed to swallow her up, the many layers piled on top of her. She walked gracefully on the water towards the center of the area designated for the dance, ripples swelled outward from where even the kimono rested on top of the water. "Amazing chakra control." Sai murmured. Sakura's face was the picture of stoicism.

Sakura suddenly bent down and took a handful of water into her cupped palm. She brought it up to her face and blew onto it the crowd could see a green glow form in her palm and she allowed the water to fall from her hand and into the lake which then proceeded to glow green as well. The green brightened, throwing a shadow over Sakura who continued to just stand as suddenly green algae began to grow at a rapid pace. "In the beginning the Secondary's came to Light Country and found a desolate land ravaged by Water.

They overcame the obstacles of this fruitless land and created one of warmth, of green plants and the animals that had fled the destruction from the nomads of Water returned." Primary's that had taken on the shape of normal sized animals began to walk about the water on the algae as if it were land. The voice that seemed to come from nowhere narrated the story of the Secondary's.

"Then one day a powerful Primary took notice of this great people and wished to share in their inner strength." The water not far from Sakura began to swirl into a whirlpool that had the crowd murmuring in excitement and interest. Lynx in his male form jumped gracefully from the whirlpool which immediately diminished back to still algae covered water. Lynx landed gracefully on the water and smoothly stepped up to Sakura who turned to him.

"The Primary wished to make a deal with these people, in exchange for their bodies and minds the Primary's would change the nature of their souls and allow them spiritual control like no other human. And they accepted this deal." Lynx stepped up intimately close to Sakura and reached around her for the tie to her obi. After Lynx undid it the water began to suck down the layers of her kimono into the water.

Team Kakashi almost freaked out when they began to think that Sakura would be left naked. But they then saw that once the final layer was pulled off her shoulders and pulled down into the water Sakura was wearing a dancing dress underneath. The top was a band of silver material that only covered her breasts leaving her waist and stomach completely bare for the eager eyes of the audience. She wore low riding black bikini cut undergarments to cover the essentials in that area and around her waist was a translucent silver skirt that went all the way to below her knees. Her feet were bare but she had silver trinkets around her ankles and wrists, her pink hair flowing freely down her back.

As she was pulled into Lynx's arms and they began a tango-esque dance to the beat of the music, Kakashi watched enthralled as she moved sensuously her face gaining a small smile as she grew more confident. Kakashi briefly glanced around to the rest of the crowd and found the women staring in awe and the men watching in a mixture of awe and lust. He could definitely smell the lust rolling off of his male teammates.

The crowd suddenly roared with its amazement as Sakura and Lynx jumped apart to dance about five feet apart. Their movements now being accompanied by fire and water, Sakura was using fire as a whip like accessory to her dance she'd move her arms and the fire would whip around and curl about her arms, not touching her but close enough to cause warm orange colors on her smooth flesh. Lynx was using water from drawing it up from the lake and allowing it to wrap up and slither up his legs. Lightning shot down from the sky around them and their dance was suddenly a flurry of water fire and electricity that was swirling around them, the lightning forming an eternity symbol while the two danced within the rings.

"And so the Secondary's took the Primary's into their bodies and were able to achieve perfect chakra control!" the bodiless voice boomed and as the music moved towards the climax suddenly Lynx and Sakura threw themselves towards the overlapping point of the eternity shape and their bodies smacked together with a crack of thunder there was a blinding flash of light.

The crowd shielded their eyes and when the light died down they looked to see a singular woman dancing gracefully in the center of the lake. The lightning now formed a singular circle around her and Kakashi was reminded of the circle Sakura always wore on her clothes. The fire and water were shooting up around her in large arches. The woman had long pink hair with black streaks, black cat ears on top of her head and glowing green eyes. She was the picture of grace even with a somewhat awkward tail swishing behind her. The music built up and built up until the lightning, fire, and water shot up the sky and a pillar of earth shot up from beneath the water's surface and held up Sakura who ended her dance in a graceful bow.

The crowd stood with cheers and excited talking. Team Kakashi stood and clapped feeling their hearts hammering from the music and excitement of the show they'd just witnessed. Sakura bowed and began to make her way off of the lake.

"THAT WAS AMAZING!" Naruto hollered excitedly. He shook Sasuke who was still staring transfixed at the lake. "Kaka-sensei did you see?! Kaka-sensei??" Naruto noticed their team leader missing but the other two men were still in a bit of a daze. "Where'd he go??"

Preview: Kakashi has a talk with Sakura about her dance and the team is called back to Konoha. How will the rookie nine react to the return of the cherry blossom? Read and Review and I'll get out the next chapter soon!


	7. Chapter 7: Return to Konoha

**Title: Cherry Blossoms in Fall**

**Pairing(s):** Sakura/Kakashi; Minor: Sakura/Sasuke, Sakura/Naruto, Sakura/Sai Eventually minor pairings: Naruto/Hinata

**Rating:** M (Lemons, explicit language, and violence)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Naruto characters or any other ideas drawn from the series. Nor do I make any profit from the series.

**Recap: **Kakashi is slowly recovering from the time jutsu that had turned him into a teenager again, back to 26 years old by the time of the festival Kakashi and the rest of his team were witnessed to an ancient Secondary dance preformed by Sakura. Kakashi's disappeared from their group.

_The crowd stood with cheers and excited talking. Team Kakashi stood and clapped feeling their hearts hammering from the music and excitement of the show they'd just witnessed. Sakura bowed and began to make her way off of the lake. _

"_THAT WAS AMAZING!" Naruto hollered excitedly. He shook Sasuke who was still staring transfixed at the lake. "Kaka-sensei did you see?! Kaka-sensei??" Naruto noticed their team leader missing but the other two men were still in a bit of a daze. "Where'd he go??" _

Chapter 7: Return to Konoha

Kakashi stalked Sakura through the woods as she briskly walked back to the Tsukino castle. Her sheer dress waved in the breeze behind her as she walked, her hair still adorned with black streaks and her ears twitched and flicked every time Kakashi made a sound, even if it was one no human could possibly hear.

But it excited Kakashi to know that Sakura's senses were now like his, that she knew he was there readying to pounce on her. She was such a small lithe thing, she looked easy to break and even though Kakashi would never hurt her he still wanted her beneath him whimpering.

In response to Kakashi's arousal Sakura's spiked, the scent of her arousal with anxiousness had Kakashi's dominating side rearing and thrashing for control. Kakashi licked his lips. Sakura suddenly broke out into a run and Kakashi obligingly took chase.

Sakura's panicked footsteps echoed on the wood of the Tsukino castle porches as she ran full barrel through the place in search of a place to hide from the man she was in love with. Kakashi used his expert chakra control to run through the tops of the trees that bordered the castle, feeling like the predator he was. He was going to prey on her sweet little body tonight.

Sakura ran full tilt into her room, her bare feet slipping along the smooth hardwood floors as she hurriedly turned to snap the shoji door shut, she leaned back against it and used her perfectly chakra control to mask her chakra completely, not even Kakashi could sense her now. Then she realized her fatal mistake. "MY BEDROOM?! HOW OBVIOUS!" Sakura seethed in self deprecating hate. She was immediately filled with horror as a dark chuckle emanated from somewhere in her room.

"Indeed…it's cute how naïve you can be at times, makes me want to take advantage of you." He ended with a dark tone and Sakura squeaked as she was suddenly thrown over a shoulder and forced to be pinned down onto her own bed.

"KAKASHI!" Sakura screeched as Kakashi used his much larger frame to pin her down as he licked and kissed her neck. Sakura's heart hammered wildly from the run and the passionate caresses her lover was giving her.

"mmmm Sakura I'm not sure how long I can wait to mark you." Kakashi practically growled against the hollow of her throat.

Sakura whimpered and pressed her crying core against his thigh and grinded the wetness against it, her hardened clit experiencing exquisite pleasure. Kakashi chuckled at her desperation and leaned back to curiously observe the large black cat ears on her head, he reached one hand up to stroke it and Sakura gasped. She stopped breathing for a second then she began to purr and grind more gracefully and languidly against him.

The smell of their mingled arousal was palpable, making Kakashi's mouth water. "You've been teasing me all week with your cute little figure and your innocent faces. You should submit to me now."

"I'VE been teasing YOU?!" Sakura said as indignantly as she could through a haze of lust and Kakashi smirked. All of his public caressing and sneaky make out sessions were flashing back and he couldn't stop the perverted grin that spread across his handsome face.

Kakashi sat up off of the cherry blossom to pull off his shirt, Sakura's jaw dropped at the newly exposed skin. The copy ninja reached down to Sakura's legs and lightly began to stroke the skin on the backs of her thighs and knees, seeing how ticklish it was he made a mental note to touch her here when around the boys. He spread her legs and Sakura was immediately overcome with embarrassment. "St-Stop! I'm still sweaty from dancing!" Sakura beseeched but he was having none of it.

Kakashi brought his face down to Sakura's panty covered center, he'd flipped the sheer dress upward over Sakura's torso and now had his nose pressed against the black material of her panties. Sakura felt like her face would explode it was so hot, and now her blush dipped down to her neck and chest when she heard the distinct sound of Kakashi sniffing. "KAKASHIIIII!" Sakura's complaints were silenced by him licking through the material and rubbing his nose where he felt the swollen clit throbbing in need.

He pulled the panties to the side to get his first look at his love's dripping sex. He groaned in appreciation at the sight. "You shave…" he whispered adoringly and immediately began devouring the wet folds of Sakura's pussy. Sakura cried out in uncontained excitement as Kakashi's tongue dipping into her and lapping at the juices, breath hit her sensitive clit making Sakura arch for more contact.

Sakura's delicate fingers laced into Kakashi's silver hair and she tried not to pull as something in her wound tighter and tighter. Then Kakashi's tongue retreated from her pussy and went to lapping with quick strokes at her clit, one long digit pushed into her core. The finger stretched up to find the sensitive spots in Sakura's soft cave; one spot in particular had her crying out his name. He added another digit and soon Sakura was careening over the edge her muscles tightened her throat almost hoarse. Sakura's grip on the sheets beneath them slackened as she was overcome with the satisfaction of her first orgasm with another person.

"Wow… that was rather nice." Sakura said breathlessly. Kakashi continued to play with her as her muscle's contractions died down and then he sat up to allow her to see him licking his lips and fingers. Sakura blushed furiously. "You pervert…"

Kakashi winked his black eye. "You know you like it."

Sakura noticed the bulge straining against Kakashi's pants. Without any warning she got up and went to give Kakashi a hug which had the copy ninja curious. Suddenly she flipped them around so he was in the position he'd previously had her in, though she was not as good at pinning him down the copy ninja allowed her to explore his chest with kisses.

When her goal became apparent, somewhere between licking the twitching muscles of his abs to slipping a hand into his pants, Kakashi choked and slid a hand into Sakura's pink tresses to stop her. "You don't have to do THAT Sakura." Sakura batted his hands away impatiently.

"So you can orally assault me but I can't orally assault you? That doesn't sound very fair." Sakura purred and Kakashi blinked in surprise and reached down to lift Sakura's face away from his crotch. Sakura's eyes were luminescent green cat eyes. He stared and frowned.

"Sakura?" her last comment had not been said in her voice but the husky female tones of Lynx. Sakura sat back out of Kakashi's grip, her face twisted in pain.

"Lynx! Stop taking control!" she shouted to herself. Kakashi frowned in concern and leaned up to hold Sakura's face. Suddenly Sakura's cat ears began to twitch like crazy and her body began to glow and the cat ears receded and her hair returned to its all pink mass. Lynx appeared on the bed from a glow that had formed. She glared up at Sakura.

"I was going to help you kitten." Lynx harrumphed and turned her back on Sakura who glared.

"That was not the time to HELP me!"

"Uhhh was Lynx molesting me?" asked Kakashi attempting to look like a blushing virgin which only made Lynx snicker and Sakura annoyed.

"I've made a blood pact with Lynx, she'll be coming with us to Konoha but you agreed to not take over completely Lynx!" Sakura chided the uninterested cat that was stretching lazily.

"Well it was fun dog-boy." Lynx winked at Kakashi and made her way out of the room.

"I feel so violated!" Kakashi said while Sakura shook her head in irritation. Sakura's eyes were drawn down to the still very sturdy tent in Kakashi's pants. Sakura felt the area between her legs throb in desire and she reached up to continue what they were doing but Kakashi stopped her regrettably. "Naruto…"

"What?" Without her bond with Lynx she couldn't scent the air as well but because of the blood pact she could scent things at almost the level as Kakashi, though dogs have notoriously stronger noses. But she didn't have to smell the fox container coming before she heard his bellowing voice.

"SAKURAAAA-CHAAAAN~~~~!!!"

Sakura growled in annoyance and Kakashi sighed in disappointment. "Well we'll finish this soon enough koi-kitten." Kakashi kissed Sakura on the lips and then pulled up his mask and transported back to his room for a cold shower.

Sakura was heading towards the shower when Naruto barreled into the room dragging a scared looking Jinenji behind him. Apparently Jinenji wasn't used to running at ninja speed through a forest.

While Jinenji was catching his breath Naruto was visibly scenting the air. 'Oh no there's no way he won't notice what we were doing…' Sakura fretted as Naruto's eyes narrowed suspiciously and Sakura forced a carefree smile. He eyed her for a minute and then visibly brushed it off as being his confusion. Sakura resisted the urge to sigh in relief. Jinenji was totally oblivious to the exchange.

"Jinenji says he has a scroll from Konoha for you!" Naruto shook Jinenji's arm who glared at the excited young man and held out the scroll to Sakura. Sakura took it and as she scanned the contents Jinenji was making his way to the door.

"Wait Jinenji-sama…" Sakura murmured as she continued to read. He stopped and turned around expectantly.

"You need me to send off a reply Sakura-hime?"

"No I can do that. But I have some things I'll need you to do for me. If you don't mind…" Sakura gave him a hopeful smile and he grinned back.

"Anything for you hime…"

"Well first I'm going to have Lynx follow you back to village. Lynx!" Sakura called out into the hallway and the cat sauntered around the corner.

"What is it?" the black cat asked her mistress.

"I'll need you to follow Jinenji-sama a little bit. You two and another villager are going to need to take a walk through the forest tonight. You guys will work out a sign for Lynx to make when a ninja is nearby and when there is one you, Jinenji-sama, are going to tell the villager you bring along that a daughter of a local merchant is being escorted through the forests to Fire Country." The cat and village leader blinked at Sakura in confusion. "But before you guys do that Jinenji-sama, I hope it won't be too much trouble for you to send a few villagers to help me pack up my research, I'll also need six horses and a light cart." Sakura said thoughtfully.

"What is all that for Sakura-hime?"

Sakura stared down at the contents of the scroll in deep thought. "Hmm…Oh? I know I said we'd be staying until the end of January but Lady Tsunade has called us back to Konoha we must leave by morning. I'll be the merchant's daughter and the boys will be my escort. The Primaries have told me there's been an increase in the number of Mist ninja hanging out in the forests watching the village. After what happened a few months back they are probably looking to see if there are any ninja in the Flower Village, so we'll need to pose as civilians at least until we get into Fire Country." Sakura explained.

"WE'RE GOING BACK TO KONOHA?! I'LL GO TELL THE TEME!!" Naruto shouted excitedly.

"Don't bother we heard everything." Sasuke and Sai entered Sakura's bedroom and Sakura was beginning to think it was getting crowded.

"So can you do all that Jinenji-sama?"

"Of course Sakura-hime! I hope you'll at least visit us again someday…"

"I will, I promise." Sakura smiled as Jinenji left with Lynx in tow.

"If you guys could go pack and then help me pack some of my stuff I'd be appreciative." Sakura said to the boys as they were about to leave to pack. They nodded their heads and went to their respective rooms.

"Konoha…" Sakura mused as she shut the scroll and stare out at the early winter night.

* * *

Early the next morning Sakura was securing the cart with all of her research materials and clothing. The boys secured their modest packs to their horses. Sakura then noticed their dilemma. "There's only five horses…?"

Kakashi turned from tying his pack to his horse to nod. "Jinenji said they only had five to spare and to send his apologies."

Sakura sighed and secured the fifth horse to the cart and tied its reigns to Sai's horse's saddle. "Don't get crazy maneuvering your horse Sai." Sakura then turned to her boys to find all of them seated on a horse leaving her without one. Kakashi reached down a hand and Sakura smiled. "Thanks." She let Kakashi pull her up to sit side saddle in front of him. Sakura didn't notice the looks the other boys had; it appeared they were silently berating themselves for not thinking to offer her a ride. "Let's go we don't want to be late for the meeting!" Sakura shouted and then they were off.

* * *

About three days later in Konoha…

The nine remnants of Konoha's Twelve stood in Lady Tsundade's office standing about a makeshift table set up with documents and maps upon it. Shizune stood to the side poised to take notes on any discussions that might be helpful. Konoha had been on high alert since information had come in from the Flower village of a possible attack by rogue ninja.

The Konoha Twelve was a group formed after almost all the members of the Rookie Nine had achieved chuunin level status. They now included Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, and the members of Team Gai: Tenten, Neji, and Lee. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had not returned to fill out the twelve number, but also included in the group were the former genin teachers of the Twelve: Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai.

Tsunade glanced at the clock in frustration. They'd been standing in dead silence for about a half hour, the group assembling at roughly the same time thanks to ANBU coming to their homes in the early afternoon to retrieve them. The occupants of the room could sense the tension rolling off of the Fifth and her assistant. "Is it war?" asked Asuma around the cigarette in his mouth.

"No…" Tsunade answered simply without explanation.

"A mission?" asked Shikamaru.

"Not exactly."

Ino exploded in a fit of emotion. "Well if it's nothing official and you have time to just shoot the breeze and have us stand around like idiots then maybe you should commission for Sakura's name to be placed on the memorial stone!" Her face was red and tears began to form at the corners of her eyes. Shikamaru frowned and hugged Ino about the shoulder with his arm. The rest of the group either stared at Tsunade in silent horror or looked down to the ground in silent grief at the loss of a young kunoichi.

Tsunade looked fit to scream at Ino but she reigned in her anger. "Actually—that's what I've called you all here about."

The door of the office opened with a loud creak and the group turned to see Team Kakashi standing there with a certain pink haired kunoichi among them. Jaws dropped and a few gasps came from the girls. Ino was slower to turn but when she did she stared in dumbfounded shock. Sakura blinked and gave everyone a smile. She had a feeling that Tsunade might not inform Konoha that she was in fact alive but she didn't expect to see all of her academy mates in the office. Ino's eyes teared up further and she ran at Sakura taking her into a strong hug. "SAKURA!"

Sakura looked surprised as she returned the hug. "Hey Ino-pig." She said hesitantly. Ino was sobbing quietly, her shoulders shaking.

"You're stupid forehead!" Ino exploded beyond the tears and Sakura scowled. "How could you scare me like that?!" Ino shouted into Sakura's face and Sakura's scowl softened.

"Sorry pig." She let Ino pull her into another hug and Tsunade stood.

"I'm glad you made it back. And I'm sorry I couldn't tell you that everything was ok with Sakura, Ino." Tsunade apologized. Hinata and Tenten ran forward to give Sakura hugs while the rest of Team Kakashi entered the office and joined the large group of mostly jonins. "But the reason I've called you all here for this meeting was not for a reunion. You are all here despite your ranks to be part of an unofficial mission here in Konoha. You've been chosen because you are all friends or close acquaintances of Sakura Haruno. Come here Sakura."

The group watched Sakura curiously as she walked over to stand beside the Hokage. "The mission is to protect Sakura from all threats, inside the village and out. Sakura has been deemed a special class of ninja separate from the others by the elders and it is a HUGE matter of village security that she be protected from assassinations." The group, minus Team Kakashi, blinked in surprise and the questions buzzing in their heads were immediately answered. "All that I'm about to disclose to you is top secret, any violation of this secret can mean serious punishment. Sakura is the last of the Secondary's and because of this her lineage must be protected at all cost. Her abilities give our village a huge advantage over foreign villages."

There was a look of understanding and silent shock from the genin teachers, Asuma's cigarette fell from his gaping mouth. Sakura blushed at the stares and turned to stare out the Hokage tower's windows. "Those that understand the history of the Secondary's can explain it to the younger of you but for now we must focus on what we are going to do about these attacks. I'm informing you of the attacks because Sakura will not be leaving the village for a long while and so if these attacks happen she could be vulnerable to them. We have no reason to believe that they know Sakura's significance but we cannot take chances."

Tsunade felt immediate ire from Sakura. "What do you mean I won't be leaving the village for a long time?! No missions??" Tsunade opened her mouth to respond but she was interrupted by a presence at the door to her office. There stood a group of five of the elders. Ahead of the group was an old woman who was clearly one of the older members of the Hyuuga clan. Also among them was a member from the Abarame and Nara clans, the other two were from clans as well.

"The Elders have decided to make a law especially for you Ms. Haruno. You may not leave the walls of this village before you produce a child for one of the clans of Konoha." The Hyuuga woman explained. Sakura's jaw dropped and her face flushed in rage.

"And if I don't WANT to have a kid with any of the clans?!"

"Then you won't be leaving this village. Ever." The Nara member said.

Sakura turned to Tsunade for support but she shook her head. "The Elders decided this unanimously there is nothing I can do to overrule that." Sakura resisted the urge to punch through the nearest wall as the elders approached her.

"We've come to meet this Secondary survivor. We hope you'll allow us to see a sample of your powers Ms. Haruno." Said one of the unnamed clan members.

Sakura growled and held up her fist. "I'd be happy to give you a taste! You—HMPHM!" Shizune ran up and covered Sakura's mouth, successfully muffling the threats and curses about to stream out. Shizune gave the elders a forced smile while Sakura glared. Kakashi chuckled nervously and stepped out of the group of ninjas to take Sakura by the arm and pull her away from Shizune and the elders.

"Sakura's been travelling a lot and is under a bit of stress I imagine. Perhaps you can invite the other elders to come observe one of our training sessions…maybe tomorrow around noon?" Kakashi suggested asking the question to both Sakura and the elders. Sakura nodded her consent and the elders made affirmative responses.

"Well we won't interrupt your briefing any longer." Said the Hyuuga elder and the group left the office.

"So we have a Secondary and we can't use her skills until she's had a kid. Great." Asuma scoffed.

Sakura was about to rant about the matter but was interrupted by Tsunade. "Lets focus on the matter of these attacks for now Sakura." Her tone left no room for argument and Sakura halfheartedly joined the other ninja at the table looking down at the maps and pictures strewn across it. "Our intelligence suggests that they still plan to attack and it will be soon, in the next few weeks perhaps. Luckily we had a squad raid their headquarters which was an abandoned village a few miles north of here."

"What happened to the villagers?" asked Ino.

"Their fields became infertile and they moved to the village south of here the Nigawa village. Though some of their weaker villagers are still resting here in Konoha. We've checked their backgrounds most of them are just these pregnant women and their husbands who need to use the hospital here." Shizune explained.

Kakashi lifted a map off the table and stared at it for a second. "There is something strange about this map. They marked where they will attack clearly and it shows that they will be attacking the southern gates."

"That's our most heavily forted gate." Gai murmured staring at the map as well.

"Yes and we've doubled the guards on that section of the walls as well." Tsunade nodded.

"It's rather foolish to attack our strongest defense…" Kakashi mused. Sakura asked him to hand her the map and he did.

"Well they are foolish brats." Sasuke pointed out. His finger indicated the photographs of the known attackers. Most of them were young men maybe a couple years younger than the Twelve.

"But there are erase marks on this map." Sakura pointed out, she set it on the table and pointed to a graphite smudge covering the Hokage tower's location on the map.

"They were probably planning on infiltrating secretly and attacking the tower but realized that wouldn't work." Kiba guessed. Sakura shook her head in disagreement and pointed out a couple other lighter smudges on the Academy and the hospital.

"It seems like some kind of trick to me." Sakura said forebodingly. She took a pile of pictures that the other members of the group were passing around. She began to flip through them but stopped on one of the pictures. "Lady Tsunade is this who I think it is?" she asked showing the Hokage a picture from the pile and pointing to a figure in it.

Tsunade took the picture. It was a picture taken by the reconnaissance team of some ninja entering one of the buildings in the village, but among the group of ninja was a man in a white lab coat. "We don't have information on this guy. Do you know him Sakura?"

"Yeah I think that is Minori Takuma!" Tsunade blinked in shock and stared closer at the photograph, understanding melted across her face.

"Who is that?" asked Sai.

"He was a top medic nin from Lightning. He was exiled from there because of some experiments he did with fertility. He used chakra to genetically modify fetuses in the womb and then aborted the children that did not inherit the blood line traits of the clans. He was once one of the top medic ninja in the world." Tsunade explained.

"He was a top medic nin but he sucked in battle. He never made it past genin level in Lightning." Sakura pointed out. "Why would he be involved in an attack on Konoha?"

"Maybe he is just there for medical assistance for the attackers." Suggested Gai.

"We had a feeling he was the leader though, based on what our intelligence had gathered." Tsunade said.

"And if their base was north of Konoha why were there members of their group around the Flower village?" Sakura turned to call out to Lynx who was lazily sleeping in the light of a window in the hallway. Lynx sighed and came in to join the intelligence briefing. "Lynx did you ever see any of these guys hanging around the Flower village?" asked Sakura showing the black cat pictures. The Twelve stared in interest at the talking cat.

Lynx lazily eyed the pictures but shook her head. "No. Except that doctor guy but he hasn't been to the Flower village since the massacre." Sakura's eyes widened.

"He was at the massacre?"

Lynx nodded. "Yes I thought he was dead actually. That guy is Nakamori Takuma."

"No that's Minori Takuma." Sakura corrected.

Lynx stared incredulously. "He must have changed his name then because that is definitely Nakamori Takuma. He was a Tertiary ninja that was doing research on fertility in the Flower village before the massacre. In fact…he helped your parents escape the massacre. He was from Water Country and so he was in charge of watching some of the prisoners before the executions. He helped your parents escape because your mother was very pregnant at the time. A couple of the Primarys helped make sure they made it to Konoha but they told me that Nakamori left them at the border of Fire Country and went traveling towards Lightning."

"He'd betrayed his village by helping them escape so he applied for citizenship in Lightning and started over." Tsunade said.

"We need to assume that they at least know that I am here in Konoha then. They might also have known that I was in the Flower village since they'd sent some of their ninja there." Sakura guessed.

"And you being here might be the reason they are attacking. To find a chance to kidnap you maybe." Shikamaru guessed.

"So when the attack does occur I want you all to make sure that does NOT happen. You must not leave Sakura alone at any time during the fighting." Tsunade warned. "Shizune will make copies of the information here and have it available for you guys in the archives."

Sakura noticed a small pile of clay in a bag on the table. Sakura lifted it up curiously. "This looks like the clay that Diedara uses."

"Some of the enemy nin are ex-Sand so they might have knowledge with explosives so we've prepped the guards to be prepared for bombs." Tsunade explained. "For now I need to get back to work so you all enjoy some time off. I'll start assigning new missions but not all of you can leave because most of you need to stay here for Sakura. You're dismissed."

Sakura let the others leave and then turned to Tsunade. "I'd like to stay at one of my teammate's homes until the attack. And where I'm living will have to be a secret between you me, that person and Shizune."

Tsunade nodded. "That is a good idea. Your old place has already been rented to someone else anyway. Who did you have in mind?"

"I was thinking Kakashi." At Tsunade's curious look Sakura explained her reasoning. "Naruto's a blabbermouth and his apartment is small…Sasuke has been acting strangely sooo yeah…and Sai is way too strange."

"Kakashi is strange too…"

"Yeah well Kakashi also has a spare room." Sakura lied. Tsunade nodded.

"Very well. It will be top secret I wont even tell the elders."

"Thank you shishou!" Sakura left the office and departed down the tower to see Kakashi waiting by her cart. Sakura looked around to see the others gone. "Where'd they go?"

"They went to unpack and get stuff to eat I guess. I thought I'd help you apartment shop."

Sakura grinned. "Actually…"She sidled up close to the copy ninja. "Lady Tsunade says I can live with you until the attacks. She'll keep it a secret for my protection…that is…if that's ok with you."

Kakashi smiled an eye creasing smile. "That sounds great."

"Do you have room for all of my stuff?"

"I have an empty spare bedroom you could use, and a plenty big king bed." He whispered the last part in case any people passing by got nosy. Sakura giggled and they began to make their way to Kakashi's apartment.

Preview of upcoming chapters: The attack on Konoha takes place with some surprising results but not before the Twelve and their former genin senseis have a night out. Kakashi and Sakura begin plans for how to solve their elder meddling problems.


End file.
